Merry Christmas, I Could Care Less ft Zack Merrick
by the-never-ender
Summary: Romance under the mistletoe...not exactly.
1. Chapter 1

**This was all based on somewhat true events. Jingle Bell Bash thing was true since they really had ten bands perform (Amber Pacific, This Providence, The Maine, Push Play, Cash Cash, Hey Monday, We The Kings, All Time Low, Cobra Starship, The All-American Rejects). Crazy show! I think you can tell which parts weren't true, but the whole JBB thing was true! This story popped into my head when I was doing my homework so I hope you like it. **

It was an ordinary day in December. It was just a couple of more days left until Christmas. Many people were on the streets, making their last minute Christmas shopping. As for me, I walked around the city, killing time before the Jingle Bell Bash show. This year, they had ten bands performing so it was going to be one long ass show. My friend, Lily made me go since she loved every band on the lineup. I didn't even know half the bands that were performing. All I knew were This Providence and Amber Pacific since they were local bands here in Seattle. Whatever, at least I was doing something on a Saturday afternoon.

I walked around the corner and continued heading towards the parking lot until someone pulled me to the side. I looked to see who it was. It was some dude wearing a grey hat and a black leather jacket.

"What the…" he cut me off when he crashed his lips onto mine. I heard a crowd of screaming girls running behind me.

"Ahhhh!" They all screamed simultaneously. They all ran off into the distance.

The guy pulled away when the girls were gone. His arms were still wrapped around me and his green eyes were staring down into mine.

I slapped him across the face and pushed him away. "Get away from me, you freak!" I walked off, but he grabbed my arm.

"I'm sorry," the guy replied. "The girls were chasing me so I was trying to hide from them."

Who was he to have girls chasing him down in public? "You had no right just to use me as some kind of camouflage to hide away from your fan girls, okay? Can you please let me go?"

He still held on to my arm. "Look, I can make this up to you because I owe you big time."

"Oh, because I saved you from being molested by 30 underage girls that wants to sleep with you. I appreciate the offer, but no thanks. Can you release me so I can go on my way? I need to go to WaMu Theater."

He raised an eyebrow. "WaMu Theater? That's the place where Jingle Bell Bash is happening."

"Yeah, I'm going there with my friend so that was why I was heading to the parking lot so I can get my car and meet up with my friend."

He smirked. "So, if you're watching JBB tonight, you probably know the bands that are there, correct?"

"I know that there are ten bands performing, but I only know two of them: This Providence and Amber Pacific since I've watched their shows here. Why are you even interested in this? In fact, why am I wasting my time talking to someone who violated me?"

"I violated you? Please, you like the kiss. That's why you didn't fight me off or anything like that."

I rolled my eyes. "You know, you should cut down your ego just a little bit so you won't be so annoying."

"Oh I'll annoy you more. Just wait and see," the guy grinned as he walked away.

What did he mean by that? I erased the thought and entered the parking lot. I had enough problems for one day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry that this is a really long chapter! I pretty much documented what happened at the actually show minus some parts so that's why it's long! Sorry again!**

Lily was waiting for me in the line. Her anticipation was showing. "It's only five minutes away!" she squealed. "I can't wait!"

I looked around and saw many people in these "Nothing Personal" t-shirts on. Was there a band called Nothing Personal? I turned to Lily. "What's up with these people wearing those shirts?" I pointed at one of them.

"Oh, there's this band called All Time Low and they're performing tonight. Their newest album was called 'Nothing Personal,'" Lily replied.

"Well…that explains a lot."

"By the way, why don't you tell me that story again? You know the one with the guy who randomly kissed you."

"I think he's going to be here since he was asking me about it. I don't know. He was running away from a bunch of screaming girls and he grabbed me and kissed me so he could hide away from them. I think he's famous, but he doesn't look familiar to me."

Lily was fascinated. "Jenny, you probably kissed someone from the bands that are going to perform."

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Okay people," the security yelled from the front of the line. "We need to move the line."

"Run!" the people started screaming. The line was moving so we started running our way to the front. We ended up cutting people but Lily didn't care. She wanted to be in the front. I was squished between two people while Lily was in front of the people who were squishing me. When we were allowed to enter, Lily and I ran inside. There was a good amount of people already in there so we took our spot at the right side of the stage where the bass player normally played at.

"I can't believe we're here!" Lily exclaimed. "We have to start texting so we can enter the contest to meet the bands!" She began pressing numbers on her phone. "Come on, start texting!"

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone. "The number to send this is 41601?" Lily nodded. "What am I suppose to text?"

"First of all," she looked at me. "Text 'ATL' so we can have a chance to meet All Time Low. I don't care if we don't meet the other bands. I just want to meet them."

"Okay, mom," I replied and began texting 'ATL' and sent it. I also texted 'Providence' so I could meet This Providence; I ended up having a message back telling me good luck and said that if I won, they were going to text me towards the end of the show. What were the chances of us winning this? This was a sold out show so I knew we weren't going to meet any of the bands.

The lights dimmed and Amber Pacific began performing. The crowd wasn't really going crazy since they weren't that popular. When they began singing "Gone So Young," I freaked out and started jumping. I was the only one jumping which was pretty normal for me when I was going to shows.

Then This Providence came out and performed. Once again, I was the only one singing to all of their songs, even Lily was a road kill. When this band called the Maine came out, everyone was going crazy except for me since I didn't know who they were. The lead singer was pretty cute and their songs were pretty catchy. This one girl got to go on stage with them to sing "Girls Do What They Want." Needless to say, the girl was a total groupie as in she was pretty much humping the lead singer's leg and trying to go backstage with them when their set was over.

Push Play was whatever as well as Cash Cash and Hey Monday, although I got one of their drumsticks when they threw it in the crowd. We the Kings were pretty insane since everyone was jumping and screaming. The energy from the stage went on me and I started jumping when they did a cover of "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World. Pete Wentz was drunk and hosted the rest of the show since he came late. The next band that was going to perform was All Time Low.

The sound check guy was doing microphone checks. "Testing, testing Gaskarth, Gaskarth," everyone screamed and the guy moved to the next microphone. "Testing Barakat testing," everyone screamed again. The crowd was ridiculous. They haven't seen the band yet and they were pushing behind me like crazy. Lily almost looked like she was going to charge the stage.

The lights dimmed and everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs. It was the most uncomfortable feeling since I was pushed against the barricade. I knew my boobs were going to be in pain the next morning. Lily couldn't stop swinging her arms and ended up hitting me on the head.

"Sorry," Lily yelled in my ear.

I looked up at the stage. The first person who caught my attention was the lead singer. He had a red plaid shirt with dark skinny jeans. His hair looked like it hasn't been washed in days, but he was cute. Then this dude who was wearing a striped shirt with emo hair came out next with a guitar. He was super tall and super skinny, but he was alright, too. The drummer came out and then…he showed up. He was wearing a tank top with skinny jeans. He was playing a pink bass and the band kicked off their opening song. People were dancing and screaming while I was dumfounded. The dude who kissed me was the bass player of All Time Low.

I stared at him in disbelief as the bras and panties were thrown to the stage. I highly doubted that he was going to see me since it was so dark, but I was in the front so he was bound to see me. Actually, why would he even bother to remember me since I was just a girl who he just met? Wait, why was I worrying about this? Do I actually….

"Oh my gosh, Jenny!" Lily squealed in my ear. "Zack Merrick is checking you out!"

I looked up at the stage. He was over me on top of the amplifiers. He grinned and winked at me before he ran to the other side of the stage. So he did remember me.

"That was the guy who kissed me!" I yelled.

"What? I can't hear you!" Lily screamed.

"Zack Merrick was the guy who kissed me!" I yelled even louder. I guess I said that too loudly since the people who were around me gave me death glares. "Uh…in my dreams!" I forced a laugh while the people rolled their eyes and continued watching.

Lily's eyes widened. "Seriously? He was the guy you were telling me about?" she hit me in the arm. "Lucky bastard!"

I sighed heavily and watched him run back to his position, his eyes still locked on mine.

**Yeah... I wished that happened when I watched ATL performed.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Geez Lily? Did you really have to yell in my ear?" I asked as we were walking towards the food area in the venue. "I can't hear anymore."

"You deserved it since you got to kiss…" I covered her mouth with my hand. People were staring at us. I didn't want to cause a scene.

"I don't say anything about that, please?" I moved my hand so she was able to breathe. "What do you want to eat?"

"Just pizza. I'm not that hungry," Lily replied. "You know I won't let this go."

I rolled my eyes as I turned to the cashier. "Can we have two pizza and two Cokes, please?"

I paid the cashier and Lily and I carried the drinks and the pizzas. We sat down near the merch booth, which was completely out of band shirts. We sat down on the cement floor munching on our pizzas. I could hear the fans screaming as The All-American Rejects began their set. I wasn't really a big fan of them, but the people seemed to enjoy them.

"So," Lily began as we were eating. "What are you going to do now?"

I looked up at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean with the whole Zack thing. He likes you, I can tell."

I sighed. "Just because he kept going to our side when he was performing doesn't mean he likes me," I took a bit out of my pizza. "Because of him, we had thousands of screaming girls pushing us against the barricade. I don't know about you, but my boobs are in pain right now."

Lily patted my back. "Bear the pain, honey. This is all for your man."

"Will you stop with that? There's no way I'm ever going to see him again! I don't want to see him ever again. If I do, I'll shoot myself with a gun."

"You are so overreacting, Jenny," Lily rolled her eyes as she drank her Coke. My phone began vibrating. "You should take that."

I pulled my phone out. It was a text message. I opened it.

_Congratulations! You and a friend have backstage passes to meet All Time Low! Please meet up with any person wearing a red Kiss FM shirt so they can bring you backstage. Enjoy your prize._

I stared at the phone screen. Was this really happening? "Lily?" I spoke.

"Yeah," she looked up at me.

"I think I need a gun now."

She glanced on my phone and read the message. She screamed at the top of her lungs and started jumping up and down like a crazy lunatic.

Let the hell begin.

**I finally posted chapter three of this story! I know it's a crappy filler so that is why I'm posting chapter four right...now!**


	4. Chapter 4

Backstage at the Jingle Bell Bash show. To most girls, this must be a dream come true to meet the pop-punk band All Time Low, but for me, this was like waiting for my death sentence. It wasn't like I didn't like the band. The band was really good when they performed. It was just Zack that annoyed the hell out of me. There was something about him that I wanted to destroy. He violated me by kissing me and he thought I liked it, but I didn't. I hated that his soft lips crashing against mine…wait. Did I say soft lips? I meant rough, disgusting lips that never meant to touch mine. I didn't let any guy do that to me, even if they were rock stars. Not one guy. I guess I was happy I won the passes since Lily was happy. She couldn't stop moving, which was the same to the other eight girls who were in the room.

This setting was intimate. There was no table or anything like that, except a back drop where there was going to be pictures taken. That meant I was able to watch from the sidelines on what was happening instead of being a part of it. I was able to avoid Zack.

"Okay, guys, I mean girls," the security announced. "I want you guys to make room for the band to enter."

All the girls started screaming as the band make their way in the room. The guys came in smiling and waving at us. I tried to keep a low profile, but that didn't work. I was the only one who was sane within the crazy group of girls who surrounded me. Zack saw me and smirked. He whispered something to the guitarist and laughed. Zack winked at me and signaled me to call him. I was going to give him the finger, but I stopped myself. That wouldn't be ladylike of me.

"Hey everyone!" The lead singer greeted.

I turned to Lily. "What's his name?" I whispered.

"That Alex. The drummer is Rian, the guitarist is Jack and you obviously know your man," she giggled.

I rolled my eyes. "You are so lucky I decided to…"

"You guys are up!" Rian grinned.

I looked up and saw the room completely empty. I didn't realize there were only a few people so that was why they were able to get them all.

I pushed Lily to go in front of me as we walked up to the band.

"Hey," Alex greeted.

Lily was starstruck so I had to do all the talking. "Hey," I smiled. "Sorry about my friend, Lily. She's lost for words. She loves you guys."

"What about you?" Jack asked. "Don't you love us, too?" he playfully pouted.

_Not all of you_. "Yeah, you guys are cool."

Zack walked up to me. "Do you remember me?"

My eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I remember you. You're the douche who kissed me so you could hide away from your fan girls."

"Whoa," Alex reacted. "I didn't know you two had a past together."

"Excuse me, but me and him never had a past," I moved my hair out of my face. "He was an accident."

"My favorite accident," Zack grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "Is it okay if we can take a picture?"

Alex nodded. "Maybe I'll have your friend stand by me while you stand by your favorite person," Lily, who was still in shock, stood between Alex and Rian while I stood between Zack and Jack. I felt Zack's arm around me. I tried to shrug it off, but his hand was like glue.

"Just relax," Zack whispered in my ear. "I won't hurt you." After the light from the camera flashed, I punched Zack in the groin.

"But I will," I pulled Lily out of the room and ran outside. I heard Zack yelling.

"Get her!" he yelled.

Lily and I ran outside the venue into the parking lot. We went inside the car and drove off.

"I can't believe you did that," Lily laughed. "You need some anger management, honey."

"I don't care," I drove around Downtown. "Do you want to go to that one 18 and over club near the waterfront? I don't want to go home yet."

"Sure, I don't feel like going home either."

Finally I could push away all of my problems...no more Zack.

**Jenny really has some anger issues. The next chapter will be up hopefully very soon. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Long chapter! Sorry!**

The club was packed. I recognized some people here who were at JBB. Maybe this was where the after party was going to take place. Great, if the people who were at JBB were going to be here, then the bands who performed was going to be here, too. That meant All Time Low was going to be here. If they saw me here, they would probably chase me down since I punched Zack in the groin. I wasn't even sure if that punch was effective since the dude had six-pack abs, either way, I would be screwed if they saw me.

Lily and I walked around the club. Many people were already drunk and making out with each other, a typical party scene.

I sat down on the bar stool while Lily was flirting with some dude in the corner.

"Hey," I called the waiter. "Can I get a glass of Sprite, please?"

"Sure young lady," he smiled as he poured the soda in the glass. "It's good that you're responsible. Are you going to be the designated driver?"

I looked over at Lily, who was downing something and laughing uncontrollably. "I guess I am," I grabbed the glass from the waiter and drank it. I browsed around the room to see if there was anyone who was nice to talk to. I saw a couple of guys who were from This Providence and the Maine lounging around, but I was too shy to talk to them. I browsed around some more and right when I looked at the entrance door, there he was again.

I got off the bar stool and walked towards Lily. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going and I ended up crashing into this guy.

"Oh, sorry," I told the guy. He turned around. He was wearing shades, but he took them off and looked at me from head-to-toe. I recognized him from the concert. He was the lead of Cash Cash.

He grinned. "Don't worry about it, pretty girl," he stroked my cheek.

"Oh, uh, okay then," I walked pass him, completely ignoring eye contact with him. I didn't want to deal another rock star right now. I couldn't even handle one.

I finally reached Lily and she was completely wasted. I grabbed on to her hand.

"Lily, we are going now," I ordered.

She shook her head. "No, I'm not going," she replied stubbornly.

I bit my lip. "Yes we are," I continued to pull on her hand, but the guy she was with pushed it away.

"She said 'no,' sweetheart," the guy slurred. "I have to fix her up first."

"Lily!" I yelled.

"No," she took another swig off her bottle. "You just want to avoid Zack. That's why you want to leave," she burped. "You can leave but I'm not leaving!" she slammed her bottle on the table. I walked away. I sat down on the bar stool again. Now I was sitting next to some drunk, who had a nice body, but he couldn't stop annoying the girl who was sitting next to him. His back was facing me, I could hear their conversation.

"Come on, sweet face! Be with me!" the man slurred. The girl ran away from him. "Forget you!" he took another shot and faced me. Holy shit, it was Zack.

"Hey," Zack smiled drunkenly. "I'm Zack from All Time Low. Can I get your number?" he leaned in closely. "Wait a minute," he started to laugh. "You're the girl who punched me. What the hell are you doing here?"

I crossed my arms. "Trying to avoid you."

"Obviously that didn't work," he took another shot. I saw the 15 shot glasses that were in front of him.

"Maybe you should stop," I took away the glass that was in his hands. "I think you had enough."

"I can never have enough," he was trying to drink another shot but I took it away from him. He looked at me. "Why are you so fucking concern about me?"

"Even though I don't like you, I don't want you to waste your life by getting wasted. You're a good musician."

Zack stared at me for a while and it creep me out a little bit. His lips trembled as he slowly leaned forward and right when he was going to plant it, I moved. He almost fell forward. I walked away. "Hey! Come back!"

I ignored him and went back to check up on Lily to see if she was going to change her mind on leaving. This night was getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

I saw Lily alone now and passed out on the table. I sighed and wrapped one of her arms around my shoulder. She was sort of awake since I didn't really have to drag her out of the club. That would've been hard.

We walked to the parking lot and reached the car. I placed Lily in the passenger seat and she groaned.

"Why did you have to take me out of there?" she affronted.

"You passed out on the table. What else am I suppose to do? Leave you there?"

"Yeah," I closed the passenger door and went around. I got in the driver's seat and put in the key in the ignition. The car wasn't starting. I tried to start it again, but it just made this weird engine sound and stopped.

"What the hell?" I hit the steering wheel constantly while Lily was laughing drunkenly and ended up barfing in the car.

Lily looked up at me her eyes widened like she saw a ghost. I slowly looked back.

"Do you guys need help?"

I rolled my window down. "Uh… yeah. Our car is not working," Lily was still starstruck.

"Maybe you guys can come back with me to the club. We'll have a tow truck come over the next morning and get your car. For now, we can drop you guys off at your place."

I was a little unsure, but I went with it. "Okay, just make sure your…"

"He won't bother you, I promise," Rian grinned. "I don't think you'll ever punch him again."

I smiled and got out of the car. "Can you help me get my friend? She's a little drunk."

He looked through the window. "I think that's an understatement. She's definitely letting it all out," I looked and saw Lily barfing on the floor of my car.

I went over to the passenger side and opened the door. Lily flopped on the pavement.

"That's gotta hurt," I mumbled and Rian came over to help Lily up. She was completely gone and now she was carried by Rian. He placed her down in their van and closed the door.

"Let's get the rest of the guys," I followed Rian into the club. Alex was drinking while Jack was trying to flirt with some random dude and Zack was sleeping on the floor. Rian kicked him in the stomach.

"Ah!" Zack's eyes opened. "What the hell was that for?" He got up and when he regained his composure, he saw me. "You always keep coming back for more, huh?" he smirked.

"Whatever," I muttered to myself. Rian laughed.

"Hold on, do you even know her name?" he turned to Zack.

Zack shrugged. "I only know her pretty face," he winked at me

"That's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard," I replied. "And by the way, my name is Jenny."

Jack turned to me, leaving the random dude he was jokingly flirting with. "Hey! You're the chick who punched Zack!" he grinned.

I sighed. This was going to be a long night.

**I'm already running out of ideas for this story! I might stop writing the story so I don't know if I will continue on and post the next chapter. Anyways, I hope you like this one. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

We gathered in the van after dragging Alex, who was completely delirious to what was going on around him, out of the club. Lily was placed in the very back with Alex and Jack beside her while Rian was in the front seat. I had to seat next to Zack who was rambling on about something I didn't really care about. Matt, their tour manager, was in the driver's seat taking out the GPS in the compartment.

"Here," he handed me the GPS. "Just type in your address and we'll bring you home safe and sound."

I typed in my home address and gave it back to him. "Thanks for doing this."

"No problem," Matt responded with a smile. "We'll pick you guys up tomorrow so we can get your car."

"Yeah," Rian chimed in.

I smiled and looked back at Lily.

She was sleeping, her head rested on Jack's shoulder while Alex's head was rested on her shoulder. Her dream was coming true and she didn't even realize it.

I faced the front again and saw Zack staring at me. I hated it when people would stare at you for no particular reason. It freaked me out.

"What are you staring at?"

He looked away. "Nothing," he answered casually.

I sighed and looked out the window. We were on the freeway now. It was going to be twenty minutes until we reached my house.

"How did you like the show?" Rian asked as we merged onto the freeway.

"It was cool. I definitely enjoyed it," I grinned.

"I knew you would," Zack smirked.

"It's not because of you," I snapped.

"Whoa," Jack interjected. "It looks like someone is in denial."

I looked back at Jack. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, you know what I mean by that," he beamed. "I saw the way you looked at him during the show. You wanted to maul him."

"Maul him?" I raised an eyebrow. "You are weird. Why would I want to do that?"

"Because you want me," Zack draped his arm around my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes and ignored him. I scooted away from him and rested my head on the window sill. Of course to annoy me, Zack scooted closer to me and rested his head on my shoulder. I was stuck. I couldn't move. Then my eyes felt heavy. I didn't want to sleep. I forced my eyes to keep open, but it was no use. My eyes closed and sleepiness took over. I escaped the real world, like if all the events that happened to me today were real. Maybe it was all a dream. Maybe I didn't really go to the concert. Maybe Lily went with her sister instead because I was too busy. Maybe all of the things that were happening to me were all just a reverie, a nightmare in some parts and I never met Zack or the guys of All Time Low. It was all false.

My mind went into a sudden spiral, mixing in all of the things that happened in my dream: Zack kissing me, Zack towering over me when I watched their concert, Zack's arm around my shoulder during the meet and greet, Zack at the club hitting on me and Zack in the van, resting his head on my shoulder. My dream was all surrounded by Zack's presence. I hated it. I hated him. Why the hell was he in my dreams? Why was he in my mind? I forced my eyes open to escape from this. I didn't want to deal with him anymore.

"Jenny," a voice called, breaking through the chaos that was in my head. "Jenny, wake up. Jenny."

My eyes fluttered open. I guess this was a continuous nightmare.

Zack carried me out of the van while Rian was carrying Lily.

"You don't have to do this," I mentioned with an annoyed tone. "I'm awake."

"I wanted to," he placed me down in the front steps of my house.

I grabbed my keys out of my coat pocket and opened the door. Rian went in first and placed Lily down on the living room couch.

"Don't be too noisy," I whispered. "My parents are here."

Rian and Zack nodded and walked out of the house and waited by the front steps. I followed.

The neighborhood was in complete silence. Nothing was heard except the radio that was coming from the van.

"Thanks, you guys," I told them.

Rian smiled. "You're welcome," he took out his phone. "Here, give me your phone number so we can pick you up tomorrow to get your car," he handed me his phone.

I typed in my phone number. "Thanks again," I waved at them. As I walked back into the house, someone grabbed my hand and pulled me out.

I turned and Zack gave me a quick peck on the lips.

"Under the mistletoe," he pointed up as he ran off into the van. I looked up and there it was. The mistletoe my mom placed up near the door.

I scowled. "You are so going to get it, Merrick!"

**Hmm...I guess listening to the song that inspired this story helped me get through my writer's block! Hehe! Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the super long chapter!**

My eyes fluttered open. The sun was glaring through my bedroom window and blinded me. I turned my away from the window and looked at the clock. It was only nine in the morning. My parents must have left for work and Lily…

"Oh shit," I jumped off the bed and ran out of my bedroom. I stomped down the stairs and went into the living room.

Luckily, she was still in same place where Rian left her. I sighed in relief and I went into the kitchen to get something to drink. I didn't know exactly when we got home, but I knew it was pretty late. I was a walking zombie since I collided into every corner of my freaking house and lost my balance in some places.

I finally reached the recliner that was in the living room and closed my eyes. The softness of the cushion made me fall into a deep sleep. My mind began playing a repeated dream, the same dream I had last night. Zack's lips touching mine for the second time under the mistletoe. I was so angry, but I walked back in the house, I felt a sense of happiness. I climbed onto my bed, remembering the whole entire day and how it all started with a kiss and ended with a kiss. It was no dream, it was true. Did I actually like this guy?

A loud knock came from the front door and I jumped.

I rubbed my eyes and managed to keep my balance as I was walking to the front door. I turned the knob and saw a smiling Rian, along with Alex, Jack and Zack behind him.

"Wow, you look like a zombie," Alex commented as he saw the state I was in. "Are you okay?"

"Uh…yeah, just tired," I yawned. "Why are you guys here so early?"

"You should ask Zack that. He was anxious to come see you again," Rian grinned. He pushed Zack towards me as I stepped back. "Why are you backing away?"

"Mistletoe," I pointed up. All of the guys looked up and laughed.

Zack pouted. "You don't want to kiss my soft lips?"

I glowered, "Are you really asking that?" I rolled my eyes. "If you want an answer, it's a no. You have to get me drunk to do that again," his lips formed into a smile. "And I don't drink."

Zack frowned as Jack slightly pushed him aside. "What about me?" he reached for my hand. "I can definitely take you on a ride of your life."

I laughed nervously. "Umm…," I pulled my hand away from him. "I need to check up on my friend. I'll be right back," I slightly closed the door and went over to Lily, who was still passed out on the living room couch. I shook her gently. "Wake up, Lily."

She moved around a little bit and groaned. "Leave me alone."

"All Time Low is here," by saying those five words, she sat up and began fixing her hair.

"Why are they here?" Lily asked as she fixed up her clothes.

"To pick up my car in downtown since it wasn't working last night," I sat down on the arm of the couch. "You probably don't remember that since you were so drunk. Do you have any pains?"

"Yeah, on my head," she touched her forehead. "It's like fell on it or something."

I sat down on the arm of the couch, trying not to laugh. "You fell on the pavement."

Her eyes widened. "What the fuck? Why didn't you stop me from falling?"

I shrugged. "You fell to the ground when I opened the door. Don't worry, Rian was carrying you the whole time," Lily's face brightened. "He also saw you projectile vomit in the car, too."

She frowned and turned red. "There go my chances of ever being with him."

"Well, you were sleeping between Alex and Jack in the van," she squealed when I told her that and smiled from ear-to-ear. I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you clean up and get ready before seeing them?" I suggested. She nodded and went upstairs. I walked back to the front door.

"Just ask her out on a date," I heard Rian said behind the door. I removed my hand from the door knob and eavesdropped. "She's a nice girl."

"With a little sass," Alex added. "You like some sass in the girl."

"I do," Zack agreed as I rolled my eyes.

"If you don't ask her out, I will," Jack joked, but he stopped. Someone probably glared at him.

"She hates me," Zack explained. That was a true statement. "I don't think she'll ever go out with me."

"Man if you didn't flirt with her so much, then you wouldn't have this problem right now," Alex commented.

"If I didn't kiss her in the first place, we wouldn't be standing in front of her house right now," Zack replied. My cue to open the door.

The guys stopped talking and looked at me. "My friend Lily is getting ready so…yeah. You guys can come in," the guys went in the house. Zack came in last and I stopped him. "With the exception of you."

"Ohhh!" Alex, Jack and Rian said in unison.

I laughed and gestured him to come in. "Just kidding," Zack grinned and came in the room.

"I thought I was going to 'get it' today," he reminded of what I told him last night.

I shrugged. "I'll save that for later if you annoy me," I closed the door and followed Zack in the living room. Rian, Alex and Jack sat on the couch while Zack sat in the recliner. I sat on the arm of the couch.

Zack patted his lap. "You can sit on me so you can feel comfortable," he winked.

I ignored him and stood up. "I'm going to get ready," I announced as I walked up the stairs.

"She likes you, dude," Alex whispered. I stopped and turned. Should I say something? Nah, I didn't feel like saying a sassy remark. Zack liked that. I continued walking up the stairs and went to my bedroom. Lily was in a dilemma on what shirt to wear.

"You know that you'll be wearing a hoodie over the shirt, right?" I commented and she shrugged.

"I still want to look hot," I sighed and went to the bathroom. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. I grabbed a black long-sleeve with a grey Danger Radio hoodie and blank skinny jeans. I finished before Lily was able to decide what hoodie she was going to wear. I walked downstairs and heard the guys talking again. I slowly walked back up and listened. I hated being so noisy.

"I'm seriously going to ask her out," Jack confirmed. "Stop being such a wussy and ask her out first, you dumb face."

"Stop calling me names," Zack snapped. "I'll ask her out soon."

"Hold up," Rian interjected. "Do you even know if she's single? What happens if she had a boyfriend?"

"That will be a waste," Alex chimed in. I stomped down the stairs and they all looked up at me. They gave me curious looks, wondering if I heard anything from their conversion. I raised an eyebrow.

"Is there something wrong?"

They all sat up straight. I could tell that their smiles were forced. "No, you look fine," Jack spat out.

I chuckled. "Thanks. Sorry my friend Lily is taking so long to get ready," I walked over and sat down on the arm of the couch. "She always takes long."

"No problem, we have the whole day free," Rian explained.

I nodded and glanced over at Zack who was staring at me. My eyebrows furrowed. "What are you staring at?"

Zack shook his head and looked away. Rian tapped my back.

"Maybe you guys should call it peace. Ever since you guys kissed, all you have been doing was being rude to him," he pointed out.

I stood up from the armrest and looked at Rian. "I'm the rude one here? He was the one who grabbed on to me and kissed me without my permission, like I would let him do that, to hide away from his underage groupies," Alex quietly laughed.

"Just make out already," he encouraged. "Beneath all that anger is passion to have sex with him." I crossed my arms and walked out of the living room. If I ever heard them say anything…

"Fuck me," Zack's voice burned my ears.

I looked back at him and scowled. "What did you say?" The guys on the couch were snickering.

He walked towards me. I was going to run off, but he grabbed my arm. He pulled me in closer to him. "Fuck me," he whispered in my ear.

I pushed him off and slapped him across the face. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and opened the door. "Get out!" I pushed him outside and closed the door. Alex, Rian and Jack started laughing their asses off. Jack even fell off the couch as he turned bright red from lack of air. I shook my head and headed upstairs. Lily was standing by the stairway, laughing as well.

"That was priceless," she took some deep breaths. "I love this day," she went downstairs and introduced herself to the band. I went inside my room and closed the door.

I felt like I was going to kill that guy, but yet I really didn't want to…

**Thanks for reading! **


	8. Chapter 8

The band and Lily were talking and laughing about the whole incident as I walked down the stairs. Alex saw me first and grinned.

"Are you okay now?" he asked.

I nodded. "Let's go," the guys and Lily stood up and headed towards the door. I wasn't sure if Zack was still outside or if he waited in the van so I let Lily go out first. When she turned the knob, Zack was sitting on the front steps and texting on his phone. He turned and saw all of us come out of the house. I was the last one to come out since I had to lock the door. Zack walked towards me. I raised my hand up.

"Hold up," I announced.

Zack kept walking. "If you please let me explain…"

"Just stop walking," he stopped. I jumped up and removed the mistletoe above me and placed it on the small table by the door. I walked pass him. He didn't follow. I turned around. "Aren't you coming?" I questioned.

He nodded and I continued heading to the van. I sat down on the same spot where I sat last night since Jack, Alex and Lily took the last row. Zack ran up to the van and sat beside me. Unlike last night however, we had a gap between us. Matt started the van and drove down the neighborhood to reach the main road.

The trip to Downtown was silent until Rian spoke up.

"We towed the car already so it will be dropped off at your house," he mentioned.

I was shocked. "Wait, so my car is heading to my house already? Who will be waiting at the house?"

"Our friend Vinny, so don't worry."

"So why are we coming with you guys then?"

"We want to take you guys out," Alex conveyed. "We have this whole day planned out. We will go into three groups: Me, Lily and Jack, Rian and Matt, and of course you and Zack. We will be at the radio station since Jack and I have to do a hosting thing. Rian and Matt will do some business stuff and you and Zack can do whatever," Lily grinned.

"Oh," I said flatly. What the heck were Zack and I going to do for the whole day? I still hated him for what he said to me.

Rian laughed at my reaction while Zack patted my back. "I'm not as bad as you think."

"Don't start with me," I snapped. "Is this what you do to all of the people you meet? You tell them you want to fuck them?"

"Only with the girls I like," he winked.

"You disgust me," I looked away from him. I felt him breathing down my neck. For some reason, I had the urge to make out with him…wait. What? Why the hell did I have these thoughts of wanting to make out with him? He was not even that attractive…alright, alright. The guy was hot, but still a douche. His looks and physique couldn't make me forget how much of an asshole he was. Okay, maybe some of the things that didn't involve me and him touching each other's lips, with the exception of the whole "fuck me" encounter since we didn't kiss. He only pissed me off.

I turned my head and his lips were an inch away from mine. I couldn't move because if I did, both of our lips would touch. I was stuck, just like yesterday but worse.

"Go for it!" Alex cheered. I tried to scoot back, but my head was against the window. I sighed and looked at him straight in the eyes. Wow, he had amazing green eyes. They were hypnotizing. What the hell? I shook my head at that thought and noticed Zack was slightly closer.

"You know that I'm not going to move until…you know," Zack brushed his fingers through my hair. I heard Lily snickering

I smirked. "You know that I'm going to punch you in the balls until…you know," I felt his hand moving down from my head to my back. I tried to push him off, but his grip was tight. Damn those muscles! It felt that we stayed in that position for hours. This was the torturous moment of my life. Zack would lean in a centimeter as each minute went by and everyone else…they just stared and I hated that.

"This is like watching an episode of Gossip Girl," Lily squealed. "Except we don't live in New York City or have bitchy girls in designer clothes."

My eyes shifted to Rian, who was quietly laughing to himself. "You and Jenny are funny," he told Lily. "I'm happy we all got to meet each other."

"We should thank Zack for this," Jack chimed in. "Without his horniness, we wouldn't be watching this brilliant scenery."

"Brilliant scenery, my ass," I muttered to myself.

"Hey," Zack whispered. "We can end this if you do it," his lips formed into a smile. His smile was infectious, I couldn't resist.

I sighed in defeat and leaned in.

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

The van stopped in front of Seattle Center. Zack and I quickly got out since traffic trailed behind us. Jack grinned.

"Have fun, lovebirds!" he closed the door and the van ran off into the street. I sighed and turned to Zack, who was already setting up his camera. His camera was a Nikon D3S. I always wanted those kinds of camera, but they were too expensive. He saw me staring at it and handed it to me.

"Try it," Zack grinned.

I took the camera and looked through the lenses. I zoomed back and forth. This camera was awesome. I quickly handed it back to Zack since I didn't want to have the urge to run off with it. "That's a really awesome camera. I always wanted a camera like that," I confessed.

"Do you want me to buy you one?"

My eyes widened. "What? No!" We began walking towards Pike Market.

"Why not?" he acted like it was no big deal to buy a $200 camera. "It's almost Christmas."

"The fact that I slapped you across the face is a good reason why you wouldn't buy me that."

"That slap really did sting my face," he admitted. "But I'm a nice person beneath this craziness. I know that you're a nice person beneath all that sassiness," I laughed. "Seriously though, I really thought you were going to kiss me, but I guess all wishes can't be granted."

I looked at him. "You have been granted the best wish of all time: being able to do what you love for a living. What more can you ask for?"

"Someone to be with," he implied. "Yeah, I can go on the road and perform every night, but it sucks to be alone."

I agreed with him on that. It did suck to be alone, but it shouldn't be with someone he just met. "I know how that feels," I affirmed. "But if I want to be in a relationship, I want it to be with someone I know, that I truly know," Zack nodded his head in agreement.

"You're right about that, but sometimes even the people you truly know can hurt you the most. I'd rather take a risk with someone who I barely know, but learn more about them as the relationship goes on."

"But there will be hidden secrets."

"There will also be hidden secrets to the people you truly know, too. You can't completely know someone," Zack smirked. "What? Do you have a hidden secret that I should know about?"

"You will never know," I grinned and he laughed.

"It must be one sexy secret," I playfully pushed him as we passed the Showbox.

When we passed the Showbox, two girls ran up to us with gigantic grins plastered on their faces. Obviously they weren't asking for my autograph. The blond one straightened up her stance while the redhead was doing this whole weird eye thing. Sort of creepy.

The blond walked up to him first. "Can you sign our shirts please?" she stuck out her boobs. This was disturbing. "I love your band!"

"Sure," Zack answered casually and signed her shirt and then the redhead's shirt. The redhead looked at me suspiciously and then turned to Zack.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

I chuckled. "Who, me? Oh, I'm not…"

"She is," Zack held my hand and kissed me on the forehead.

I gave him a weird look, but I went with it. "Uh, yeah," I stuttered. "Zack's cool."

The two girls glared at me and then began flirting with Zack, but he was not buying. "You guys are cool. Go to our shows sometimes, alright?" we walked away from them. "See ya!"

The girls smiled at him and waved. They didn't give a crap about me, but I never cared.

After walking for two minutes, I realized my hand was still intertwined with Zack's.

"I think we can let go now," I commented.

"Aww…," he pouted. "I was enjoying it." He released his hand from mine and stuffed them in his pocket. I smiled at his reaction. "You know, this has been the longest time you haven't said anything mean to me."

"Really? Maybe we should change that," I joked. "By the way, how come you told the girls I was your girlfriend?"

He shrugged. "I didn't want them to go all over me and be over flirtatious around me. They toned it down a little when they know you have a girlfriend. I'm actually surprised you let me do that."

"Me too," the cold breezes made me shiver. I should've brought a coat. I pulled my hoodie up.

"Are you cold?"

I shook my head. "No, I just like my hoodie up. It's style."

"So you shivering are part of your fashion sense as well?"

I sighed. "Fine, I am cold. I forgot how cold Downtown Seattle can get in the winter," I stuffed my hands in my pockets.

"Here," Zack took off his coat. "Wear this."

"Then you would get cold."

He placed his coat over my shoulders. "You need it more than I do," he zipped up his hoodie as we walked through the crowd in the Market. We sat down by the tables that faced the waterfront. I noticed Zack staring at me again. Why did he always do that?

"Can I ask you a question?" Zack nodded. "Why do you always stare at me?"

He folded his hands on the table as he stared out the window. "I knew you were going to ask me that, but since you asked me nicely. I'll answer you," his eyes gazed on mine. "Vous êtes beaux."

"You're saying that I'm beautiful?" Zack's eyes widened as I laughed. "I didn't know you speak French."

"I don't," he chuckled as he turned bright red. "I just got that from the internet. This is not really going as planned. You know how speak it?"

"Un petit peu," Zack stared at me in confusion. "A little bit. I learned two years of French back at high school."

"So much for practicing," I patted his back.

"I hate to admit it, but I thought it was adorable," I smiled as wrapped his arm around me.

For some odd reason, it felt like this is where I belonged.

**Two updates in one day! Hell yeah! Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

The day with Zack wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There might be some moments where he was getting into my bubble and I had to push him off, but overall it was a good morning.

Zack and I went to the Hard Rock Café for lunch. A group of preppy girls were seated at a table across from us. They weren't shy to show that they liked Zack. They were constantly giggling and flipping their hair and such. It was so freaking annoying. I just wanted to punch them in the face so they could shut up. Zack must have noticed me glaring at them.

"Hey," he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

I forced a smile. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine," I grabbed the menu. "Do you know what you want to get?"

Zack looked intently at me. I looked up at him.

"Are you going to say something else to me in a foreign language?" I joked.

He shook his head. "I'm just noticing that you're pissed off at the girls across from us," he whispered.

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not pissed off," I lied. "I'm…well…do you think we should get the Jumbo Combo as a starter?" I suggested, trying to change the subject.

Zack's lips formed into a smile. "Are you jealous?"

"What?" My eyes widened as I placed down the menu. "I am not jealous. Why would I be jealous?"

He shrugged. "It seems like you want to attack the girls."

"They were being so annoying. Ever since we got here, all they've been doing were giggling and doing stupid stuff just to get attention…"

"From me," Zack finished.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I mean, it's just rude and annoying to laugh so much."

"Sure," Zack laughed as I blushed. Ugh, why was I acting like this? I should be happy that other girls were on him. It took away the attention from me.

"Just forget about it," I continued to look on the menu. I knew Zack was still looking at me. When I glanced up at him, he had this gigantic grin on his face.

"You like me, don't you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, if you say so," I continued looking at the menu. Zack took the menu from my hands. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Give me a straight answer. Do you like me or not?"

I stared straight in the eyes. "I do like you…as an awesome acquaintance."

"Ugh," he slapped himself in the forehead. "Just admit already it! You like me more than an acquaintance."

I crossed my arms. "Are we seriously going through this right now?"

"Yeah," Zack said matter-of-factly.

I sighed. "Fine, I like you…as a friend.

"Oh come on," he pursed his lips.

"Well…you asked," I grabbed the menu and skimmed through it. Eventually, Zack picked up a menu as well.

"I'm not going to let this go," he muttered.

I knew he wouldn't.

xxx

The cool breeze blew as we walked out of the café. Couples were filling the streets of Downtown and it was weird. People of all ages were holding someone's hand, wrapped around by someone else or just making out in the dark allies. It was not Valentine's Day, so why did every couple in the Northwest decided to gather around here? Even toddlers were holding hands. It was awkward since Zack and I were the only ones who didn't have a plus one and we had this giant gap between us. We didn't talk to each other ever since the whole encounter. I knew he liked me, but the mystery was if I liked him back. If a girl was to slap a boy every time he tries to kiss her, that was not love; that was being abusive and that was how our relationship was. Abusive. I would yell threats at Zack or hit him, but he always came back to me. I never understood why. Did he like being abused by a girl? I didn't know, but what did I have that made him like me?

"Hey Zack, what do you look for in a girl?"

Zack smiled. "You have everything I look for in a girl," he pulled me in closer to him and tried to kiss me.

I pushed him off. "Do you seriously have to do that every time we're walking together?"

"You want me. That's why you're pushing away from me."

"Why would I want you?" Zack took off his hoodie and threw it to me. "What are doing?" he ignored me as he proceeded to take off his sweater. "Are you seriously doing this right now? You'll freeze!" a crowd of girls began gathering around us. "Zack, stop!" Zack didn't stop. Instead he took off his shirt, showing off his amazing body. The girls cheered as I stared at him in disbelief. When he started taking off his belt, I had to stop it completely. "What the hell man?" I pulled him into a wig store and closed the door. The workers checked Zack out as I made him wear his clothes again. "What the hell were you thinking back there?"

He shrugged and he put on his sweater and hoodie.

I saw the van pulled up in front of the store and we both ran out. Rian smiled as we got in.

"Were you auditioning for the Chippendales back there?" he laughed as the van pulled away from the street.

"I was auditioning for someone's heart," Zack grinned.

"Did you pass or fail?" Alex asked.

Zack glanced at me. "I don't know yet."

**Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

"Zack auditioned for your heart! Ugh, date the guy already!" Lily declared as we were walking around the mall. The guys decided that Lily and I needed some "girl time" while the dudes needed their "man time," so we split up and walked around the mall. "He likes you!"

"Don't say it so loudly," I covered her mouth. "You don't think I know that. He couldn't stop staring at me the whole way here," I replied. "It's just…"

"It's just what?"

"He's a rock star. I'm a college student. He lives where ever he lives at."

"He lives at Huntington Beach."

"Yeah, that place and I live here," I glanced at Lily. "It can't work out."

Lily grinned. "Wait…so you mean you do like…" she squealed. "I knew it!"

"Hold up! I didn't say that. What I was trying to explain is the whole situation here. He's going to leave pretty soon and I don't think I leave a long lasting impression on him," I crossed my arms. "He'll eventually forget the anger problem girl."

"Think again honey. He's willing to strip in public so he can prove to you he has feelings for you. I bet if you tell him to drop off a bridge, he'll follow."

I chuckled. "I guess if I want him off my back…" Lily's eyes widened. "Just kidding, but seriously if I don't like him, then his feelings for me would fade. Then this whole madness will end."

"You know, I think it's the exact opposite," Lily mentioned. "Every time you push him away, the more he wants you. He likes your sass."

"That's what I have been hearing a lot lately," I paused. "Maybe I should go all over him and bring him into me."

"I think he'll like that, too," Lily mentioned. "I think in your perspective, it's sort of a lose-lose situation, but hey I would accept losing if I was in your shoes."

"Of course you would," I agreed. We walked inside Hot Topic. It was pretty crowded. With my lack of attention to what was going on with my surroundings, I collided into another person. "Oh sorry about that," I looked up at the person. He was the lead singer of Cash Cash.

He smiled. "Hey I remember you. You collided into me at the club last night."

"Oh, uh, sorry about that, too."

He held my hand and kissed it. "You don't have to be sorry. Maybe this is a sign," he stroked my cheek. "Fate, possibly?"

I removed his hand from my face. "No," I muttered. "Bad luck, I assume."

He smirked. "A girl with sass…I like that."

I shook my head. "Why does every guy like that?" I mumbled to myself. Lily came over beside me.

She grabbed my arm. "She has a boyfriend," she confirmed. "If you have any plans of asking her out, too late now."

He glanced at me. "You have a man, huh? What does he look like?" he crossed his arms.

Lily started pulling me. "Way hotter compared to you," she hollered before we walked out of the store. I was in shock the whole time that I didn't know what to say.

When my throat finally cleared, I spoke. "I'm so happy you said that."

Lily giggled. "I'm not sure what you have, but rock stars are attracted to you, like a lure or something," she sighed. "I wish I have that."

"Don't you have two guys who are into you?"

"Alex has a girlfriend, but Jack…I'm not sure if he likes me. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a thing for you."

"I highly doubt that," we saw the guys gathered by the benches. They waved when they saw us. Lily stood next to Jack, who quickly wrapped his arm around her while I sat between Alex and Zack. Alex grinned when he saw me.

"So… did you buy a dress?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Why would I buy a dress?"

"Somewhat formal gathering tonight," Jack explained. "We want you guys to come," he whispered something in Lily's ear and she giggled. "We also want you guys to come to the not so clean after party."

"All the bands from JBB are going to be there," Zack added. "Adding more to the awesomeness."

"All of the bands?" I remembered the lead singer of Cash Cash. He was going to be there, too.

He nodded. "Why? Is there a problem with that?"

"What? No, I'm…looking forward to it," I forced a smile. Zack gave me a suspicious look.

Rian closed his cell phone. "Jean-Paul is going to meet us here," he turned to me. "You know who is, right?" I shook my head. "He's the lead singer of Cash Cash. He'll talk to us about some stuff before he leaves the mall."

Great and utter shit-ness, I thought to myself. Lily was gesturing me to go to Wet Seal. I stood up. "I'm going to look around for a dress," I announced. "I want to look nice," Zack stood up as well.

"I'll come, too."

Jack and Lily walked beside us. "We'll join, too," Lily winked at me.

We walked inside Wet Seal. Lily quickly pulled me into the dress section. "What are you going to do now?" she whispered. "Jean-Paul is going to be there!"

"I need someone to pretend to be my boyfriend," I responded. "I just don't know who," Lily smirked. I shook my head. "No…he's not going to…do you know he's going to take advantage of this? You know him!"

"He's the only one who would gladly accept this offer," she nudged my arm. "Don't pretend you don't like it."

I sighed heavily. "Fine," I surrendered. "I'll ask him now," Lily quietly cheered on as I walked towards the two guys.

"Hey Jack, Lily wants you," Jack walked away. I watched him and Lily looking around for a dress.

"Did you find a dress yet?" Zack asked.

I shook my head. How was I going to say this? "Umm…I still need to look around," we walked around the store. My mind was not focusing on finding a dress; it was functioning on how to ask Zack to be my boyfriend for one night.

Zack pulled me out of my conscience. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and almost tripped over a hanger.

"Whoa," he grabbed onto me. "What is going on with you?"

I took a deep breath. "I need to get this out," I started. "Will you do me a huge favor please?"

Zack lips formed into a smile. "What's the huge favor?"

I sighed. Hopefully this came out right…

"Will you be my boyfriend for tonight?"

**Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

Three hours…I looked at the clock as I sat on my bed. I prepared myself physically and mentally for this party. My military print ruffle dress lay on the bed beside me. Zack offered to buy it for me since I apparently made his day by asking him to be my boyfriend for tonight. I told him the whole encounter with Jean-Paul and he said that he was going to make sure Jean-Paul was going to stay away from me. In his words, he was going to show affection towards me and be so close to me that we were going to be attached to the hip the whole night. That didn't sound great to me, but I needed to let him to do that to make it believable that we were in fact together. This was the ticket Zack needed to be undeniably close to me. I was not looking forward to this at all. I ended up using a creep to keep away another creep from getting closer to me: the smartest idea of all time…not.

Lily walked in the bedroom, looking tired as the rag in her hands was stained with her stale vomit. I tried not to laugh. "Is the car clean now?"

She sighed and nodded. "Yes, I cleaned out all the shit that came from my mouth. Your car now smells like alpine trees."

I grinned and hugged her. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah," she threw the rag in the trash can. "I'm going to take a shower now," she went in my bathroom and locked it. Lily offered to clean my car since she was the whole reason why it smelled and looked like shit when we got it back. At least my car got cleaned. One less thing to worry about.

I lay on the bed and thought about Zack again. What the hell did I have that made him like me so much? Apparently my sassiness took part in it, but what else? Maybe I wasn't like other girls who would jump on him or flirt with him like crazy. I was the exact opposite of that. I showed anger towards him and completely stayed away from him every time he tried to get close to me. I never showed any signs of love to him…unless he was seeing the whole "stay away from me" thing through a different point of view…like a kid's perspective. Obviously when kids were young, the way to show they liked someone was making fun of them or pretended that they hated them like Helga from Hey Arnold. Helga would push Arnold away, but deep inside she loved the guy to death.

I got up from my bed. Hold up, what was I saying here? That I liked Zack? That I was showing affection to him through anger and hatred? What the hell? I was 19 for Pete's sake! I wasn't a fourth grader. Love was not a game, but did he think I was playing this game to get his attention? Who did he think he was? Too many questions for me to handle here; way too many questions unanswered, but would they ever be answered? Questions kept piling up in my head and I wasn't able to control it. Did I like Zack? Did I? Did I?

"No," I told myself. "You don't like him, Jenny. It's just your heart tricking you," _but what if I was in denial?_ "You're not in denial, Jenny. You don't like Zack in that way," _but what if I was just hiding what I truly felt?_ "I never hide my feelings," _but what if I was just scared to be in a relationship?_ "I'm not scared. I'm just," _but what if I was? _"No! I'm," _what if…_"Quit with the "what if" questions! I don't like him! Ugh!" I buried my face on my pillow. "I hate Zack!"

"You like him," a voice said behind me.

I looked up. Lily had this huge smile on her face.

"You are having a mental breakdown, my friend," she sat down beside me. "Don't hide what you feel."

"I'm not," I mumbled. "This is how I really feel." Lily had a concern look on her face. "Trust me."

"Okay then," she stood up. "If you say so," she left the room.

I rubbed my eyes. What was wrong with me? I had a full conversation with myself on a guy. I almost broke down because of a guy I didn't like…or I thought I didn't like. I slammed my head on the pillows. My heart and mind were in a conflict. Should I let my heart win?

I shook my head and got up from the bed. I needed to put that thought aside and pack my clothes in my backpack. Since the party was going to take place at the Hilton Hotel, the "not so clean" after party was going to take place in the hotel rooms…yup. That meant I was going to share a room with no other than Zack because why would Lily want to share a room with me since she had Jack. I made sure though that there were two beds in the room. I was not going to sleep or make out with Zack.

My parents were going on this honeymoon thing so they wouldn't be home until tomorrow night, so I was able to stay overnight. I didn't really want to stay, but I wasn't going to bring my car so I had to stay overnight at the hotel. Hopefully Zack didn't get too drunk and go all over me or else he was going to receive a black eye as an early Christmas present from me.

**Just to let you guys know, the next chapter will be the party and the not so clean after party (maybe). Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

The mirror was kind to me. The military print ruffle dress Zack bought for me fitted perfectly on my petite body. I wore leggings and boots since it was freezing outside. I let my long wavy brown hair rest on my shoulders as I wore a little bit of eyeliner and mascara. I wasn't the type to wear lipstick so I put on some chap stick so my lips wouldn't dry. I grabbed my black coat and my backpack before heading downstairs.

Lily was waiting anxiously in the living room as I glided down the stairs. She smiled when she saw me.

"You look so pretty," she complimented. "You are definitely trying to impress Zack, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, I just want to look nice for the party. All of the band guys are going to be there so…I wanted to look decent."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to flirt with other band dudes?"

"What? Heck no," I sat down on the couch and crossed my legs. "Is it bad for me to want to look pretty?"

She shrugged. "It's just suspicious."

I studied what she was wearing. A wine red mini dress with black heels and a coat, no leggings. "Are you sure you're not going to freeze to death?"

She grinned. "With Jack by my side, I'll be hot all night, Jenny."

I started laughing. "Wow," that was all I could say.

A knock was heard from the door. Lily and I stood up, doing last minute preparations before answering the door. Lily walked over to the door and opened it. Alex looked pretty sharp in his dark blue polo shirt and black skinny jeans. His jaw dropped when he saw Lily.

"Lily…you look good," Alex complimented. "Jack would definitely want some of that tonight," Lily giggled as I walked over to the door. Alex took a glance at my outfit as well. "Zack would want some of that too," I hit Alex on the shoulder. "Ouch, man that hurt," he rubbed his shoulder. "You can't stop Zack since you're his girl for tonight."

I glanced at Alex. "Wait…you know?"

Alex nodded. "Pretty much everyone knows this whole Zack and you being a couple for tonight except for Cash Cash and some other people," we all walked out of the house and walked to the van. "Jean-Paul is a creep so I understand why you would do this. Why do you have to pretend, though?"

"I was going to ask her the same question," Lily chimed in, adding more fuel to the fire.

I didn't answer and Alex just sighed. "You better make up your mind before we leave this place. You don't want any regrets," he opened the door of the van and we all got in. Why was everyone annoying me with this Zack thing? I sat beside Zack while Lily and Alex sat by Jack in the last row. Zack placed his arm around my shoulders and tried to kiss me in the forehead, but I pulled away.

"We are not even at the party yet," I muttered.

Zack smirked. "We need to do some practice to make this believable," I sighed as he gently kissed me on the cheek. "See, that wasn't so bad."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," I rolled my eyes as Rian turned around and grinned.

"So…you two are an item now, huh?"

"Only for tonight," I added as Zack grunted.

Rian laughed. "This is going to be interesting."

xxx

Everyone from Jingle Bell Bash was at the party. People were dancing, drinking and making out, very crazy and wild scenery. I recognized many of the bands that were there and some were hitting it up with the girls who were there. Zack held my hand as we walked around the place. The lead singer of the Maine was eyeing me as we passed him to go to the tables. It made me feel uncomfortable since I already had another dude to deal with. When we sat down at the tables, I turned to Zack.

"So…everyone knows about this whole thing?"

He nodded. "Yeah, almost everyone knows about this," he glanced around the room.

I looked up at the singer of the Maine, who was still staring at me while he was drinking his beer. "Who's single in this room?"

Zack scowled. "Are you seriously going to…"

"No, I mean I'm just curious," I replied innocently.

Zack looked around the room. "Well, Alex from Hey Monday is single as well as John from the Maine. I think that's it…oh yeah and Jean-Paul," he said condescendingly.

"John is the lead singer of the Maine, right?"

"Yeah," Zack's eyes narrowed. "Why? Do you like him?"

I smirked. "Maybe," I lied as I glanced over at John. "He seems pretty sexy to me."

Zack leaned in closer to me. "He's so scrawny. Why the hell would you like him?" I was beginning to like this game.

I took off my coat. I heard Zack gasping a little bit. "He turns me on," I said seductively. "I wouldn't mind being with him during the very not so clean after party. I mean, the way he was moving around the stage during the concert, he makes me want to make out with him," I bit my lip. "I wonder if he's really good with his machinery," I turned to Zack and he looked like he was going to blow. I burst out laughing. "You know, you look so hilarious when you're pissed off!"

Zack's eyes widened. "Wait…that was all…" I nodded. "Ugh, you're so mean."

I smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. "You shouldn't take things so seriously," I rested my head on his shoulder. Whoa, what did I just do? I kissed him and now resting my head on his shoulder. What has gotten over me? I stood up from the chair. Zack held my arm.

"Where are you going?"

"Uh, I, uh I," what the hell was wrong with me? "I, I need to…I'm thirsty. I'll be right back," I blurted out. As if on cue, the song that started playing on the speakers was "Stuttering" by The Friday Night Boys, Lily's favorite band. I went through the crowd of people to go to the drinks. I grabbed a Sprite from the table and downed it.

"Slow down, sister," a girl with brown hair with blonde highlights on her bangs. "Don't want to get too drunk."

I looked at her. "I'm drinking Sprite."

"Oh," she laughed. "Sorry, I thought it was something else," she held out her hand. "By the way, I'm Cassadee."

"Nice to meet you," I shook her hand. "I'm Jenny."

"So you are the Jenny everyone has been talking about."

I gave her a puzzled look. "What?"

"You're the Jenny that Zack likes, correct?" I nodded. "Just to let you know, Zack is madly in love with you."

Maybe she was the drunken one here. "How can he love me if he only met me just yesterday?"

"He talks about you all the freaking time. He's like obsess with you."

"That's not good to know."

"It is good to know because that shows that he likes you more than your looks," she tilted your head. "Maybe you should give him a try for real instead of this pretend crap."

I shrugged. "We'll see," I smiled. "It was really nice meeting you."

"Yeah, you too!" Cassadee ran over to Rian in the dance floor. They started jumping around to "Hot Mess" by Cobra Starship.

As I walked back to Zack, I bumped into someone I never wanted to see.

Jean-Paul smirked. "We meet again."

**To be continued...**

**Party scene part two currently in the making and after party scene part two, the (maybe) not so clean after party will take place, hopefully. Thanks for reading, you guys! I really appreciate the feedback!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: If you like Jean-Paul, please don't take offense on what the story says about him. If you are going to take it personally, skip the parts with him in it. **

Jean-Paul's annoying face was once again in front of mine. He was wearing these horrible looking shades and clothes that looked like he bought at a local flee market and were dumped into neon dye. He looked horrific, his presence was annoying and the only thing I wanted to do was bail, but of course, when I tried to move on, he grabbed my arm.

"Don't leave yet," Jean-Paul's breath smelled so freaking bad, probably from the drink he was consuming or his lack of care in personal hygiene.

I pulled my arm away from him. "Honestly, you are the only person here who I do not want to see," he grabbed me by the arm again.

"Come on…don't fight it."

I glared at him. "I'm not. You can do whatever you want and I would still despise you."

"I'm good in bed. I don't mind giving you a ride all night."

I looked at him in disgust. "I seriously don't want to see you shed your crappy ass neon clothing to show off your scrawny ass body. I still want to live," I stormed out of his way and went back to the tables where Zack was at. I needed to find him pronto because I knew for sure that wouldn't be the last time I was going to see Jean-Paul.

The tables were empty when I walked back. He was gone. I looked around for him, but he was nowhere in sight. My "boyfriend" vanished and now I had a creep who wanted to sleep with me. Ugh, that thought made me threw up a little in my mouth. I continued looking around for Zack, but I still couldn't find him. Lily and Jack were hanging around by the snack table so I went up to them to ask if they knew where Zack went.

Lily smiled and waved as I approached her. "Where's your man?"

"I was going to ask that," I replied. Jack was drinking some drink I didn't know the name to. He glanced down at me and smirked.

"He went to fuck some girl," he mentioned casually.

I crossed my arms. "Well…he needs to pause that fuck because I'm fucked. I have some creep who wants to fuck me and I need some protection," it was weird how those words were connected. "I need Zack now."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Wait…Jean-Paul wants some ass?" she took a drink from her bottle. "He only wants you so he could fuck you? That neon-wearing son of a bitch."

"I know," I agreed. "That's why I need Zack now."

"Damn…_you_ need _me_?" a voice said behind me. I turned around. Zack with the hugest smile I've ever seen. "I never thought you'd say that," his lips crashed onto mine. Zack was obviously drunk by the smell of his breath and the taste of the alcohol from his lips. I pushed him away and gave him a stern look.

"So, are you done fucking?" Zack gave me a weird look.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Jack said you were fucking some chick and that was why you were gone," Jack chuckled.

"I was just playing with you, Jenny," he patted my shoulder. "Zack is faithful to you. He would never fuck any girl other than…" I covered his mouth.

Zack enclosed his arms around my waist and our foreheads touched. Lily was quietly giggling in the background while Jack was making some moaning noises. Zack slowly leaned forward so his lips would touch mine. My initial reaction was to push him away, but I stopped myself. He was my boyfriend (for now). I couldn't just reject him. He gently kissed me and then he embraced me, my head on his chest while he rested his head on top of mine. The song that was playing over the speakers was "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon. "I love this song," I closed my eyes as the melody streamed through my ears. "This is the song I want to play at my wedding," well…_that_ slipped.

"We can make it happen," I snapped back to reality and shot my head up to look at Zack. Was he serious? Why did I say that? Music could be a burden sometimes.

I shook my head. "Marriage is far in the future," I broke free from his embrace, but his hand was still intertwined in mine. "That song always gets to me."

Zack grinned. "I can see that," he paused. "Is Jean-Paul here now?" I nodded. "Do I need to beat that motherfucker up?"

"Not now," I looked around the room. Luckily he was nowhere in sight. Zack pulled me into his arms again and we started rocking back and forth to the song. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jean-Paul reappearing in the crowd. He didn't look to please when he saw me wrapped around in Zack's arms. "Shit," I muttered to myself. Zack lifted my chin up and kissed my lips softly. The kiss became more on a make out session throughout the course of the song. I was lost with him, to say the least. When he broke free, I caught myself. I admitted that he was a very good kisser and it took me this long just to realize it. Zack smiled and stroked my cheek. Hopefully this night never ends…whoa what?

Jack brought me back to reality. "Uh…I think the creeper is here," he pointed at Jean-Paul who was making his way towards us. "He does not like this," he glanced over at me and Zack. Zack held my hand as he pulled me into the crowd of people who were at the dance floor.

"I don't want to deal with that asshole just yet," Zack asserted. "We just need to avoid his way," we walked through the crowd until we made it to the other side of the room where the Maine and Alex were hanging out. Alex grinned as we went up to them.

"Lovebirds!" Alex exclaimed. John stood beside him and beamed.

"So, are you the chick who Jean-Paul is aiming at?"

My eyes widened. "You know, too?"

He shrugged. "I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he wants you. I would want you too," John said bluntly. "You're hot."

"Uh…thanks?" I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

John walked towards me and reached for my hand. He turned to Zack. "May I dance with your girlfriend?"

I crossed my arms. "No," I answered before re Zack could give a proper reply.

Zack quietly laughed to himself as John frowned and pouted his lips. "Why? It's not like you and Zack are actually together."

"I don't feel like dancing, especially to this song," the DJ was playing "Womanizer" by Britney Spears. "No offense to you or anything."

John suddenly brightened up. "So that means I might have a chance with you?"

"Not exactly," Alex and the guys laughed as John turned red in embarrassment. "Sorry," I apologized. Zack tugged my arm and we went to the drinks area.

Zack did his whole stare at me thing again while I took a drink of my Sprite. "Every guy here is attracted to you," he claimed.

"Not all of the guys," I mentioned. "Honestly, I don't think I'm that pretty to attract every single guy here."

Zack sling his arm around my shoulder. "You're really beautiful. You need to have more self-confidence in yourself like me. I know I'm pretty hot," he pointed at his larger than life muscles and hardcore abs. "I'm steaming hot!"

I laughed. "You're my portable heater," I declared.

Zack smiled as he looked behind him. He must have seen something or someone because his smile faded into a glare. I looked back. The neon-wearing monster was coming to us with a vengeance. It was not that hard to spot Jean-Paul, even if the room was dim lighted. His bright and ugly ass apparel made him stand out from the crowd. At least he wasn't wearing those horrific shades anymore.

"This is your man?" he snapped at me while giving Zack an angry look.

"Yeah," I answered casually. "This is my man."

Jean-Paul walked up to Zack. He needed to step on his tippy toes since he was not that tall to talk to Zack's face. He started doing this entire pointing thing and telling him crap that I didn't really understand. Zack on the other hand was just looking at him, waiting.

"You want to fight me because I'll fight you," Jean-Paul threatened. "We can fight over her because I was the one who saw her—ugh!" Zack punched him right in the face. The crowd gasped as Jean-Paul was knocked out to the ground. His helpless little body was in the middle of the floor. His band members helped him up and didn't even bother to avenge their friend. They all ran out of the room and didn't want to encounter Zack. The people who were left there glanced at me, then at Zack. Jack walked in front of us.

"Go back to the party, people. This is just a lesson to show what will happen if you mess with Zack's girl. So guys, just keep it in your pants please?" the music began playing again and everyone went back to partying. Jack turned to us and smiled. "See Jenny, Zack will do anything to protect you so you better give him some ass tonight," I hit him on the arm.

"Will you quit that?" I sighed and turned to Zack who was beaming with joy. I raised an eyebrow. "Why are you so happy?"

He bit his lip as he draped his arms around my waist.

"It's almost the after party," _oh shit._

**Just to let you guys know, I have a mibba account. Just telling you this just in case if something happens to this story. Same author name (the-never-ender). My other story got reported so...yeah. On a brighter note, the "not so clean" after party will be next! Yup, yup! Maybe something will go down or nothing at all. Haven't decided yet...nevermind I did. I hope you guys like what's in store for the next chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

_**"Luck loves me not tonight, I'm running out..." **_**I think this song lyric fits me perfectly...oh yeah. That lyric is not mine, anway. It's by All Time Low. **

The party dwindled down as the night came near. It was only 11 o'clock but I guess everyone wanted to hang in their hotel rooms for the after party. I didn't want to leave because I did not want to be alone in a room with Zack, especially now with him being all horny and drunk. Not exactly a perfect combination in my book.

I tied my hair up in a bun and walked over to Lily who was waiting for Jack. He had a little too many so now he was throwing up in a small bin at the corner of the room. She sighed as she watched her man. "He better wash his mouth and take a shower before he goes to bed with me," the music lowered since there was barely anyone in the room except for a couple of people who decided to have their after party in the room. It was getting a little x-rated and sort of disgusting, especially with all of the moaning and groaning going on.

"Yeah, you wouldn't want to taste his vomit," I nodded my head in agreement.

Lily grinned. "So…are you and Zack gonna get it on tonight?"

My eyes widened. "What? Hell to the no," I confirmed. "He will not go near me."

"What happens if he goes naked on you? I don't think you're able to resist that fine body," she assured.

She was right. Zack did have a fine body, but there was no way in hell he was going to sleep with me. That was why I stayed completely sober throughout this whole party so I could prepare for this. No temptation was going to bring me down. I shrugged. "I can resist," I said with confidence.

Lily crossed her arms. "If you say so," she went over to Jack, making sure he was alright.

I sighed and walked back to Zack, who was talking to Alex about something. I swore I saw him receiving condoms from Alex and placing it in his pocket. The sight made me shudder. Zack looked up and ran over to me. He crashed his lips onto mine, but I broke from his kiss. "Dude, the party is over. You don't have to do this."

"Hey, you said that I was going to be your boyfriend for tonight, not for the party. For tonight," Zack asserted. "That means you're mine for the whole night and you know what else?" he leaned into my ear. "I'm horny," he whispered, then laughed.

What kind of deep shit did I get into? A horny drunken Zack was going to have me for the whole freaking night. I probably should have planned out an escape plan before I went to this party. He held my hand and escorted me out of the room.

"Use protection," Alex chuckled.

I glared at him before leaving the room. We went to the floor below us and walked down the halls. It was interesting that in every door handle I saw in every room, there was a "Do Not Disturb" sign. Everyone was getting it on tonight, living up to the "not so clean" part of the party. We finally reached the room and Zack swiped his hotel card. The door opened and we got in. I saw my backpack near the wooden closet as well as Zack's bag. Luckily there were two beds in to room. I walked to the bed that was nearest to the window and sat down on the edge of it to take off my shoes. Zack, on the other hand, was shedding off his clothes, only leaving his boxers on as he landed on the bed beside mine. I stood up from the bed and opened my backpack to get a tank top and shorts. Zack glanced at the attire I was getting from my bag.

"Don't you have sexy lingerie or something?"

I gave Zack a puzzled look. "Why would I have sexy lingerie in my bag? It's not like I'm going to sleep with you," I went inside the bathroom and locked the door. I feared that if I left the door unlock, Zack was going to maul me. I changed my clothes and walked out again. Zack was now sprawled on the bed…naked. "Fuck," I muttered to myself and turned away from him.

"That's the right word," Zack grinned as he stood up and wrapped his arms around my waist. It was very awkward standing this close to someone when they were butt-naked…very uncomfortable. Every time I shifted my position, I felt it. Zack quietly chuckled as he leaned in and began kissing my neck up to my ears. "Just let go," he entreated. "Just let go," his lips trickled down from ears to my neck again. Zack moved his face up to me and kissed my lips softly. I kissed him back and the temptations started to flood in. I jumped up to wrap my legs around his waist and pulled him down to the bed. Zack broke free from me and got off the bed.

I was shocked and sat up. "What the hell are you doing?" I snapped. I took some deep breaths before realizing that Zack was getting the condom that Alex gave him from his jeans pocket and opened it. I rested my head on the pillow. "What the hell am I doing?" I mumbled to myself. Zack went on top of me and kissed my forehead.

"You're finally letting go," I looked at him and touched his chest with my fingertips.

"Man, you do have a fine body," I admitted as Zack laughed and kissed my lips. What was going on with me? Zack proceeded to take off my tank top, but I stopped him. He stared at me in confusion as I shook my head. "You're drunk," I commented. "You won't even…" he placed his finger on my lips.

"I love you," he blurted it out. "I want to be with you," he stroked my cheek.

My eyes widened. "Okay, you are drunk," I got up, but Zack stopped me. I could tell by his eyes that he was serious. Was he fucking with my head right now? "Do you need to take a breathalyzer test so you can prove to me that you're serious right now?"

Zack didn't answer. Instead he kissed me passionately on the lips as his hands traveled through my body and I was taken by that moment on. Zack had me right where he wanted me to be and I had him right where I wanted him to be. As the clothes on my back disappeared (as well as my underwear), nothing could break us apart; his kiss was intoxicating, his touch was addicting. Zack was everything I would have wanted.

After a while, we took a break, catching our breaths. Zack looked at me from head-to-toe. "You're amazing," he complimented. His fingertips traveled from my chest to my stomach. I giggled since it tickled so much. I pushed his hand away.

"You can stop now," I smiled as he came closer to me. Zack kissed my forehead.

The people who were in the room next to us couldn't stop banging on the wall. Zack's eyebrows furrowed as he stood up and placed his ear against the wall. After listening to the faint screaming, Zack grinned. "Well, Lily and Jack are getting a ride of their life," he jumped on the bed and placed his head on the pillows. "Lily can scream, that's for sure."

I laughed as I placed my head on his chest. "You want to continue?" I looked up at Zack. "Although I can't scream as loud as Lily, I can definitely give you a ride of your life."

"You already did, but I don't mind getting more," Zack grinned as he placed himself on top of me.

This time _I_ was going to be in charge.

**If you guys read the reviews for this story, you know what happened. I'll keep updating this story until they are the ones who take it out. By the way, it was a pain in the freaking ass to move all of the stories from here to Mibba. Alright, enough with my complaining. Let's get back to the story. **

**Yup, Jenny and Zack got it on! My plans for the upcoming chapters are going to freak you guys out a little bit and maybe you won't like what's going to happen. You guys keep reading, though!**


	16. Chapter 16

My mind was running moments through my head; moments that I have never thought would happen. Zack and I…had sex…in the hotel room. Oh my freaking…did that really happen? Was this all a dream? This has to be a dream. I mean, come on. I was sober. I wouldn't have Zack get to me like that. I was all over him and I wouldn't do that when I was sober. I was too afraid to open up my eyes. If I saw white sheets over me instead of my red and black bed sheets, I was going to freak out.

My eyes slowly opened. Shit fuck. White bed sheets covered my naked body. I looked behind me. Zack was sleeping soundly as one of his arms was around my waist. He shifted his position and came closer to me, resting his head against my shoulder. I really did sleep with Zack. So last night was real. I was defenseless against Zack. I gave in from the moment he stripped off his clothes, went on top of me and told me…he loved me. Zack was drunk, though. When people were drunk, they threw words around like there was no tomorrow. That four letter word was meaningless to him, but I believed it.

Zack's cell phone rang, breaking my train of thought. Zack removed his arm around me and got up. I closed my eyes so he thought I was sleeping. He answered the phone.

"What?" he answered tiredly. The person in the other line was jabbering about something. "Are you serious?" he laughed. "No way man! If she tries to come back to me, I'll shut her down. She was only a one night hit for only last night. Not worth my time," he paused, listening. "If she ever tries to talk to me again, I swear I'll…" he chuckled at what the other person was saying. "Yup, exactly," Zack agreed. "She is such a dumbass!" Were they talking about me? "It was just an accident," he added. "Just adding a punch to the crazy night," that fucking bastard was talking about me! I had the urge to jump off the bed and choke him until he was dead. "Okay, I'll make sure she stays in my memories, if she's even worth remembering," he laughed before hanging up on the phone. I closed my eyes again. His footsteps were towards me. I felt him sat down on the bed. A kiss was planted on my forehead before he stood up and walked away again. The bathroom door was slammed shut so I got up from the bed.

I grabbed my backpack. The shower was on in the bathroom so I knew Zack was going to take awhile before he came out. I grabbed a pullover hoodie, black sweats and a shirt and wore it. I tied my hair up in a bun. A pen and a notepad were on the counter right next to the television. I didn't want to talk to Zack right after what I just heard from his phone conversation. I knew he was talking about me and I was a fool to believe that he loved me. I took the pen and notepad and began writing a note to him.

_Zack,_

_I…I want to end this. Last night was a mistake. You were drunk and I just couldn't control myself. The things that happened between us were just temporary feelings that would eventually go away the next day. I know you said you love me, but like what I said before, you were drunk. You didn't know what you were talking about. I didn't know what I was doing. I should have been the responsible one, but instead all of this happened._

I paused. I wasn't sure if I should continue on with this note. I needed to, though. I needed to give him a reason why I left him here.

_I know I'm not worth your time and I'll promise you I'll never come back to you. This was never meant to be more than a memory to me. So just forget me, okay? Just forget me. _

- _Jenny_

I placed the note on his pillow before heading out the door. The shower was turned off in the bathroom so I had to hurry. I quietly closed the door shut and ran down the hallway. This hotel was filled with friends of All Time Low so I wanted to get out of here before one of them saw me. I pressed the elevator button. Right when the doors opened, my eyes widened at the presence of someone I didn't want to see. Jean-Paul was standing at the corner of the elevator with his black eye. I had to go in. Zack must have seen the note by now and would try to find me. I went in and the elevator doors closed. It was pretty hard not to look at the black eye he had. It was just there, so visible. Even a blind person could see that thing. I quietly laughed while Jean-Paul rolled his eyes. He got off in the fourth floor and stomped into the hallway. At least something brightened up my day a little bit.

The elevator stopped at the main floor and I got out. I headed to the entrance door until I saw Rian and Matt checking out at the counter. I pulled my hoodie up and tried not to bring any attention towards me. I walked pass them and I heard their conversation.

"Dude, Zack just texted me; he said Jenny disappeared," Matt explained. "He doesn't know where she is."

"How could that happen? I need to call her," Rian replied. Oh crap, my phone was on loud ring. I walked faster to the entrance door. I covered my phone speakers so I could muffle the sound. Right when I walked out the door, my phone rang and obviously it was from Rian. I silenced my phone and ran to the bus stop so I could go home. The bus came right when I got there so I hopped in and took a seat at the middle of the bus. My phone was constantly receiving calls from Rian, but I didn't want to answer. I didn't want to deal with him or Zack or anyone affiliated with All Time Low. I just wanted to escape from this.

My phone rang again. This time, however, it was from Lily. I answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Jenny! Where are you? Don't you know everyone is worried about you?" Lily snapped.

I sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Ugh, Jenny, I…ugh I don't know why you're acting like this right now. Zack is super worried."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Why would he be worried about me?"

Lily gasped in shock. "He likes you. He cares about you."

"That's not what I heard," I assured. "Why don't you ask him about his phone conversation he had this morning and then call me back okay?" I hung up the phone as I glanced at my window. Three days ago, my life was normal and nothing happen. I couldn't believe that going to some radio station sponsored concert would lead me here.

I rested my head on the seat, waiting for the bus to come to my stop. There was no turning back now. I was far from Downtown Seattle. Lily and the rest of the gang were long gone from my sight. I just hoped that the rest of them understood why I did this. Zack just used me and now I was far from his memory.

Oddly enough, he was not far from mine.

**Don't say I didn't warn you! I know that some of you guys are not liking where this is heading, but keep reading! _Maybe_ things will get better?**


	17. Chapter 17

The house was empty when I came home. My parents were probably still out on their honeymoon. I needed to do last minute Christmas shopping. Ever since Zack came in the picture, I have been distracted from anything Christmas shopping related. Lily was on the top of my list for buying a present as well as my dorm mates at college. It was a good thing I bought presents for my parents so I didn't have to worry about them. In fact, the presents I bought for them were the only presents under the Christmas tree. My parents were procrastinators.

I dropped off my backpack by my desk in my bedroom and took my wallet off my bedside table. When I gazed at the mirror, I was a wreck. My make-up was messed up, my hair was sticking out all over the place, and my outfit…well wearing sweats didn't really look flattering on me, but it was comfortable. I took the towel that was on the table and went inside the bathroom to wash my face up and fix my hair. There was no time to change clothes since time was ticking. Christmas was only in a couple of days and surely enough, the malls would be jammed pack with countless number of people getting anything they would find in a store. It was only nine in the morning so that meant no one was going to be there, especially on a weekday.

I took my keys, phone, and wallet, ran down the stairs (almost tripping over myself) and headed out the door to my newly cleaned car. Right when I opened the door, the scent of alpine trees invaded my nose. Man, Lily over did it with the air freshener. I sat down on the driver's seat and backed out of the driveway. My phone was placed in the drink holders and surprisingly, no one called. I wasn't anticipating for a phone call, but I was expecting Lily to call me about the conversation Zack had on the phone. It was still a mystery who it was. It was either Jack or Alex since Rian was oblivious on what was going on.

Since the mall was only a freeway away, I made it there pretty quickly. The parking lot was empty and my car was lonely in a vast of pavement. I had this gut feeling that something was going to happen to my car, but I ignored the thought. Who would want to vandalize or steal an ugly looking car? I walked to the Sears entrance and entered inside the store. There was a pretty good amount of people here already, but not too overwhelming. My first stop was at Hot Topic since Lily always wanted this Paramore varsity hoodie and I remembered I saw one there.

As I walked to Hot Topic, familiar faces passed me. One of them was from the Maine. I wasn't sure if he recognized me, but he gave me this smirk that creep me out. It was one of those "you are at the wrong place at the wrong time" smirks. I smiled back at him and turned away. More people I recognized came flowing out of the Hot Topic store. Was it a good idea to enter it now? I needed to buy Lily's present so I went in there, taking a risk.

The people were crowding the room and I walked through them just to look around for the hoodie. When I looked back, Lily came in with Jack, who was in disguised so he wouldn't get noticed. They were heading my direction. Oh crap, I needed to get out of here. Maybe a gift card was a better option. I quickly caught a $50 gift card and went to the cashier. The cashier gave me a strange look before scanning my item. I was fidgeting the whole time since the cashier was taking so freaking long. I immediately paid her the $51 dollars and grabbed the card out of her hands. I sprinted out of the store before Lily noticed me.

A flow of relief came through me as I walked away from the store. I was able to buy presents for my roommates after Christmas, so I decided to skip the Christmas shopping before colliding into someone I…

"Jenny!" Cassadee ran towards me.

I forced a smile. Why now? "Hey Cassadee," I greeted.

She stood in front of me with her arms crossed. "What's the deal with you and Zack? Why did you leave him?"

Not this again. "I don't want to talk about it. I just…"

"So you just used Zack for your own liking?" Cassadee snapped.

"What? No!" Why the hell was she getting into my business? "He was the one who used me."

"That's not true, Jenny," she fired back. "He loves you. That's why he's been worried sick on why you left him."

"I left him a note on why I got away and for your own information Cassadee, he was drunk when he said he loved me and I knew that didn't mean a thing to him." Before Cassadee said something back, I ran off. I didn't want to deal with this anymore. I walked out of the mall and went to my car.

This day kept getting better and I learned my lesson for not ignoring my instincts. Someone took out the air in one of my tires. A note was left on the windshield.

_We are not going to stop bothering you until you fix this mess up!_

By those words, I knew who it was from but why did they have to deflate my tires. I took the car jack from the trunk. Little did they know that I could change a tire by myself. I wasn't sure why I kept that a secret from people, but luckily I kept this a secret or else Lily would probably deflate every tire. I bet Lily knew that I was going to be at the mall today since I told her yesterday that I needed to buy last minute presents. Since she knew me so well, she knew that I was going to go to this particular mall and park near the Sears entrance. Lily knew me too well.

Although it took me a while to change the tire, I did it. I threw the deflated tire with all my might at the trunk of the car. My back was aching, but I needed to hurry before Lily and the guys got out of there. I threw myself in the driver's seat and started the car.

Guitar Center was a few blocks away from the mall and I was pretty sure that Lily was going to think I was heading home so this a good place to stall. I parked the car in the store parking lot and got out. I had to do a few stretches since carrying a tire by me was not the smartest idea.

I walked in the store and saw a couple of dudes lounging around. They all looked too familiar to me. Shit, did I bring myself to another place that was infested by band dudes? I went over to the bass section to avoid the madness. Maybe it was bad luck or some kind of curse that followed me, but when I went to that section, Zack was right there. He sat on the amplifier while he was playing a grey bass guitar. I completely forgot he played bass in the band. Zack looked depress, though. Even though he was playing, he just looked sad. My heart stopped and I felt like I wanted to hug him right then and there. If he didn't care about me, why would he be down like this? My pride got the best of me and I decided not to walk up to him. I left the store and went in my car.

Home was the only place where I was not going to see anyone I know.

**Okay people, I am almost done writing this story! If I'm consistant in writing this, this story might be over by the end of the month or early next month! Sorry if I'm not realy active in writing the other stories. I'm just _really _stuck on writing them. I don't know where to go with it! I have an idea for some, but I'm not sure if I'm sticking with it. Since I'm in a severe writer's block, I will be posting another story after this story is done. I'll try to write as much as I can for this story before it gets taken down! Thanks for reading! **


	18. Chapter 18

My bed held up a confused lonely girl who was talking to herself. She was now talking to herself in third person because she was alone. The person she hated ended up being the person she wanted, but now everything was gone. She gave all of her soul to him and what she got back was a broken heart. She was a fool to believe what he said to her in the first place and now, all of her mind was holding was regrets, heartache, and wishes that she hoped it could be granted.

I rested my head on my arm. Here I was at the same place the night before, talking to myself. This time was different though. I had no one on my team obviously because everyone was on Team Zack. Lily even deflated one of my tires so I could be trapped there. Everyone disliked me. What was the whole point of defending me now? This was like every single band at the concert plus Lily against me. I was going to lose and I would accept that defeat. I just didn't want to see Zack again. My hatred went to an all time high towards him and there was no way it was going down.

My phone began vibrating on my desk. I checked to see who it was.

Zack.

I sighed and placed the phone back on the desk. He was the last person I wanted to talk to right now. If I was to answer that phone, trouble would ensue. My phone stopped vibrating, but after about one minute, it began vibrating again. I grabbed the phone off the desk and looked at the caller ID.

Zack.

I clenched my fist and threw the phone on the bed. I sat down beside it, waiting for the call to be forwarded to voicemail. For about ten minutes, my phone kept vibrating and the name that kept popping up at the screen was him, over and over again. He was not going to stop. Then, the phone calls became text messages. What the hell? He was going to use up my limits for my text messaging plan. I grabbed my phone and dialed his number.

The first ring didn't even go through when Zack immediately answered.

"Jenny, I…"

"Whatever Zack. The only reason why I called is to tell you to stop contacting me," I snapped. "Just don't call me, okay?"

"But I need…"

"No, you don't. You don't need to have a one night stand romance," I hung up the phone. A few minutes later, my phone began ringing again. I answered and yelled. "Just stop calling…"

"It's Lily," she interjected.

I sighed. "What is it?"

"Do you need some girl talk because it sounds like you do need one?"

I scratched my head. "I do," I admitted. "It sucks talking to myself."

Lily laughed. "Okay, I'll be there ASAP."

"Okay," I hung up the phone.

I really needed some girl talk.

My bed held up a confused lonely girl who was talking to herself. She was now talking to herself in third person because she was alone. The person she hated ended up being the person she wanted, but now everything was gone. She gave all of her soul to him and what she got back was a broken heart. She was a fool to believe what he said to her in the first place and now, all of her mind was holding was regrets, heartache, and wishes that she hoped it could be granted.

I rested my head on my arm. Here I was at the same place the night before, talking to myself. This time was different though. I had no one on my team obviously because everyone was on Team Zack. Lily even deflated one of my tires so I could be trapped there. Everyone disliked me. What was the whole point of defending me now? This was like every single band at the concert plus Lily against me. I was going to lose and I would accept that defeat. I just didn't want to see Zack again. My hatred went to an all time high towards him and there was no way it was going down.

My phone began vibrating on my desk. I checked to see who it was.

Zack.

I sighed and placed the phone back on the desk. He was the last person I wanted to talk to right now. If I was to answer that phone, trouble would ensue. My phone stopped vibrating, but after about one minute, it began vibrating again. I grabbed the phone off the desk and looked at the caller ID.

Zack.

I clenched my fist and threw the phone on the bed. I sat down beside it, waiting for the call to be forwarded to voicemail. For about ten minutes, my phone kept vibrating and the name that kept popping up at the screen was him, over and over again. He was not going to stop. Then, the phone calls became text messages. What the hell? He was going to use up my limits for my text messaging plan. I grabbed my phone and dialed his number.

The first ring didn't even go through when Zack immediately answered.

"Jenny, I…"

"Whatever Zack. The only reason why I called is to tell you to stop contacting me," I snapped. "Just don't call me, okay?"

"But I need…"

"No, you don't. You don't need to have a one night stand romance," I hung up the phone. A few minutes later, my phone began ringing again. I answered and yelled. "Just stop calling…"

"It's Lily," she interjected.

I sighed. "What is it?"

"Do you need some girl talk because it sounds like you do need one?"

I scratched my head. "I do," I admitted. "It sucks talking to myself."

Lily laughed. "Okay, I'll be there ASAP."

"Okay," I hung up the phone.

I really needed some girl talk.


	19. Chapter 19

Lily came over with a bag of presents in her hand as she walked inside the house. I glanced at the bag. Obviously one of the presents was from Hot Topic by the logo of the box. For sure, Lily bought me something All Time Low related, like I would wear something affiliated to someone who betrayed me. She placed the presents under the Christmas tree while I sat on the couch and watched. Lily looked back at me.

"I also bought presents for your parents, too," she mentioned as she sat down on the recliner across from me. "Hopefully they like it."

"Why did you deflate my tire?" I asked, changing the subject because I knew Lily was trying to avoid the conversation from going to the incident at the mall. If Lily knew me well, I knew her well, too. I guess we were meant to be best friends.

Lily stuffed her hands in her pocket, feeling uncomfortable on the subject we were on. "So…you wouldn't escape from us?" she answered with an inflection.

I gave her a puzzled look. "Who's 'us' in this matter?"

"Jack, Alex, Rian and Matt," she listed off the names. No mention of Zack since I saw him at Guitar Center, but he must have known I was at the mall. Maybe he was just waiting there until these guys kidnapped me or something so they could have me and Zack meet up. That plan failed obviously and Zack was probably upset. Maybe Zack really did care for me, but why the hell did he say those things about me? "Hold on, how did you change your tire so quickly?" Lily interrupted my thoughts. "Did you call triple A or something?"

I shook my head. "I changed the tire. That's probably the only thing you don't know about me."

Lily's eyes widened. "Oh shit! No wonder you were out of there so quickly!" she shook her head. "That's crazy man. That's crazy. You're possibly the only girl who knows how to do that," she paused and gazed at me. "Just to shift the focus from me to you, why didn't you talk to Zack when you were at Guitar Center?"

My head shot up at her. "How did you know I was there?" Holy crap, did they have cameras or something following me to know my every move? Creepy.

"The guys from This Providence saw you. You went to the bass section then all of a sudden barged out of there like you saw a ghost or something," Lily explained. She tilted her head. "Do you know the phone conversation he had with Alex that morning was not about you at all? It was someone else."

My heart stopped. "What?" I spat out.

"I'm not sure who it was, but it was definitely not about you. Alex and Zack told me. I know they wouldn't lie about this, especially how much Zack lo…likes you," she corrected herself. "He does care for you. He talks about you all the freaking time."

I frowned as I remembered everything I wrote in the note, saying that last night was a mistake and what he told me was drunken lies. My pride took the best of me and now, it felt like I have been stabbed in the back. So much pain erupted in me because I felt so bad for what I've done.

Lily smiled. "You really like Zack, huh?" Lily almost seemed like she was reading me like a book. I didn't really have a good poker face so it was obvious.

"I do. I really do like Zack," I lowered my head. "He's like my favorite candy bar." When I was sad, I tend to make odd comments about things. This was no different.

"Snickers?" Lily asked as she chuckled. "I know you like Snickers."

I smiled. "Sure, he's my Snickers," I paused. "Wow. That sounded weird."

She laughed. "Well, I think it's cute," I looked up at her as she took something out of her pocket. It was a silver voice recorder. "And I think Zack will like to hear that."

My eyes widened. "Wait, you recorded the whole conversation we just had?" I was baffled. "Even the Snickers part?"

Lily grinned. "Yup, even the Snickers part." She was one sneaky little bastard.

I shot a look at Lily and at the tape recorder and at Lily again. "Please don't," I stood up and sprinted towards Lily. Lily, with her athletic abilities and coordination, managed to jump off the recliner and run to the front door. I chased her as she ran down the steps and head to…All Time Low's van? Blood drained out of me as I saw Lily running to the van with Jack waiting by the door. Jack gave me one of those "Gotcha" smirks and drove off, leaving me standing there. In a matter of minutes, Zack was going to her me say he was "my Snickers." I wasn't sure what to do now. That was probably the weirdest things I could say to a guy I like.

I walked back in my house in defeat. I went up to my room and buried myself in my bed sheets. My phone started vibrating beneath my pillows. I grabbed it and saw it was a text message…from Zack. Great, he probably thought I was a dork by saying that whole Snickers thing. I opened the message.

_I knew you love me! You can't resist my sugary sweetness of my body! Haha…_

Wow…

**In the words of Paramore, "things are looking up, oh finally!" Yeah, yeah...I'm guessing you guys are happy that Jenny and Zack finally made up, but who was the person Zack and Alex were talking about during their phone conversation? Hmm...you'll soon find out. Stay tuned!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Coming to a close...**

The last hour of my life was filled with a lot of swearing, sexual innuendo, and Zack's abs all through text messaging. The swearing part mostly came from the many times the word "fuck" came in our conversation, mainly from Zack. I wasn't sure if Zack was intoxicated during the time we were texting each other or he was really like this when he was super happy…maybe he was super happy in a particular way. Either way, I was content with everything that was going on. Zack and I were working things out; the neon wearing monster was out of the picture, and Cassadee wouldn't go in my business about this whole thing. The only thing that bothered me was the phone conversation he had earlier in the day. Did Zack screw someone over? Did he really fuck a girl during the party? Maybe Jack was not kidding and he tried to cover it up by saying that he was joking. I didn't want this to ruin the fun, but it was hard to avoid it. I didn't want to think about that now. Zack and I were in a good point in our relationship and running bad thoughts in my head would ruin that.

Since almost everything was falling into place and the drama died down (for now), I decided to go to the mall again and continue on with my Christmas shopping. I didn't think anyone would get in the way this time so this was going to be much smoother journey at the mall. Just in case if something did happen, I parked my car near Nordstrom instead of Sears. Lily was unpredictable and I couldn't risk my car of getting another flat tire. I ran out of spares.

As usual, it was complete chaos at the mall and everyone was frantically buying anything that was in their reach. The halls were completely crowded and the stores were so compacted. It almost felt like I was at a concert without the awesome music playing. All the stores were playing cheesy Christmas songs. Although I loved Christmas, I hated the music. I would prefer Fall Out Boy's "Yule Shoot Your Eye Out" be played over the intercom instead of "Jingle Bells."

I walked in a sports store since my dorm mates, Hayden and Olivia, loved the Seahawks and the Sounders. Lucky for me, almost every Seahawks and Sounders gear in the store was on sale. I ended up buying a John Carlson jersey for an acceptable price for Hayden while I bought Olivia a Sounders sweater. I guess my Christmas shopping was pretty much done except I wanted to buy Zack something. I didn't know what to buy for him though. I mean, they didn't sell surfboards here in Seattle. Did they sell any skateboards here? I highly doubt it. I didn't want to buy him clothes since I didn't really know his style. He wasn't like the rest of the band. Pretty much the rest of the band wore Glamour Kills gear and skinny jeans. Zack's fashion changed on a daily bases. Besides, it would be worthless to buy him a shirt; he'd end up taking it off. I wasn't complaining about that.

While I was walking to F.Y.E., I saw my nightmare…again: the neon wearing monster accessorizing his black eye with additional bruises on his cheek and arms. I didn't remember Zack beating him up that much. He only punched him in the eye. That was all. He saw me walking in his direction and he smirked. Why couldn't I have a nice visit at the mall? There was always someone to ruin the party. As if on cue, John came in the scene. He was walking out of F.Y.E. and saw Jean-Paul aiming at my direction. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into Aeropostle. Out of all the stores we could enter in, we ended up staying in here with all of the girls beaming at John. John gave them small smiles while we went to the back of the store, avoiding Jean-Paul's path. He released his grip from my arm and smiled. "You are so lucky I was here."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, thanks for coming out on cue," I grinned while I gave him a hug.

He hugged me back and kissed me on the forehead. Okay, that was weird. Why was he doing this? "Don't mention it," he moved a portion of my hair out of my face.

"Umm…why did you kiss me?"

John shrugged. "I wanted to. You're a beautiful girl. It's hard for me not to kiss you," he slings his arm around my shoulder. "It's not like you and Zack are together anyway."

I backed away from him in confusion. "That's not true. We are working things out."

"So you and Zack really did have a falling out, but now you guys are together? I don't get it," he placed his hand on mine. "He screwed you over."

"That's not true," I asserted. "I trust him."

He shook his head. "You barely know the guy. You only met him like what? Three days ago or something? You don't know him at all."

Not this again. I pulled my hand away from him. "I need to go," I stormed out of the store. I felt footsteps behind me. John was saying a lot of things, but ignored him. I didn't know how this news spread so quickly, but I was guessing everyone knew about it. All Time Low was friends with everybody. Everybody was in on it. Did Jean-Paul know about this? Maybe that was why he was smirking at me. He probably knew that I used Zack so he could stay away from me. John held my arm, forcing me to stop and turn to him.

"Look, I'm sorry I said that. It's just…I don't know. It's just hard to…"

"Whatever, John," I snapped. "My day was going well until you said that to me," I never knew why the heavens hated me. First Jean-Paul, then John? Why was this all happening?

Jean-Paul walked up to us. He crossed his arms and glared at me. I didn't know what he wanted. They needed to leave me alone for once. "Tell Zack that he will get revenge for what he did to me."

I glared right back at him. "Why? Did he give you those bruises as well?" He didn't answer. I looked at the both of them. They were both staring me down. "Seriously…did he do that?" I pointed at the bruises on Jean-Paul's arm.

He gave me a weird look. "No shit, you're the reason why this happened to me," he was about to charge me until John stopped him.

"Enough with this," John pleaded, and then turned to me. "Maybe you should go home now."

Without saying a word, I walked out of the mall and went to the parking lot. This has to be the craziest day of my life so far and it was only the afternoon. I needed to talk to Zack about everything. I needed to know who he was talking about on the phone with Alex. If he really did screw someone over, we were over.

**Umm...I guess not. This was supposed to be the last chapter and then an epilogue after this. The upcoming chapters will probably surprise you...stay tuned.**


	21. Chapter 21

Lily's car was parked in front of my house when I got home while my parents' car was parked at the driveway. I wasn't sure why Lily was here. Maybe she was getting her stuff since her family came back from England. Whatever the reason, it made me nervous. Throughout the whole day, nothing but surprises came upon me. Some were okay while others pissed me off. If this was another surprise that was going to piss me off, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

I parked my car next to my parents' car and got out. The house seemed tranquil so maybe everything was alright.

When I opened the front door…I didn't know how to react. My parents were having a conversation with Lily and Zack. Yup, Zack was in the living room talking to my parents while Lily watched. By the smiles on my parents' faces, I knew what they were going to say.

"Honey, I didn't know you met a fine looking young boy at the concert," Mom exclaimed. "How come you didn't introduce him to us?" Zack turned around and smiled while I stared blankly at Mom.

"Umm…I just didn't think that you guys will…accept him?" I answered quietly. "I mean, I just met him two days ago."

Dad grinned from ear-to-ear. "When a boy you like loves fishing, I like him right off the bat!"

I looked at Zack. "You like fishing?"

He nodded as I sighed. Every time when a boy comes here to meet my parents, Dad always asked the guy if he liked fishing. If they said 'no,' Dad told me to break it off with the guy. If they said 'yes,' Dad encouraged me to date him. In this case, Dad fully accepted Zack in the family. I wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing since I still needed to talk to Zack about the phone conversation. I didn't know if he screwed me over or screwed someone over last night. John was in my business about this whole thing. He wasn't the type of person to lie about these kinds of things, but then again, I only knew him last night at the party. Maybe he was doing this so I could be with him instead of Zack. What was up with me and these band dudes? They needed to stay away from my bubble.

Mom interrupted my thoughts. "Sweetheart, are you going to take a seat? You look really tired."

I shook my head as I walked towards the stairs. "I'm just going to take a quick shower first to relax a little bit," I glanced at Zack as he winked at me. "It has been a very bust day for me," I strode up the stairs to my room. This was all happening so quickly. Zack was now meeting my parents. What was next? Him giving me a promise ring? I erased that thought from my head. I wouldn't know how to react if Zack decided to do that. I bet Lily was the one who thought about the idea of him meeting my parents. She knew that Zack's charm was going to easily win over my parents.

I walked in the bathroom to take a shower. I needed some time to escape from this.

Xxx

Zack and I hung out at the front porch of my house while my parents went out temporarily to buy food. Since Lily was going to stay at her family's place for the rest of Winter Break, dinner tonight was going to consist of my parents, Zack and me. Before Lily left, however, I let her know how I felt about the whole fiasco that happened earlier in the day and Zack meeting my parents. In her head, she thought that Zack was "the one" for me. I never understood her. She was out of her mind thinking that was going to happen. I liked Zack, but I wasn't sure if this was going to last with all of this mess going around. Plus, he was going back to his hometown on Wednesday, Christmas Eve. I never experienced how it was like to have a long distance relationship with someone. From what I heard, it was complicated. My head was getting a migraine from all of this thinking.

"Who did you talk about with Alex?" I asked, breaking the silence between us. "Did you screw someone over? Did you screw me over?"

He shook his head frantically. "I didn't screw anyone over, especially you. I can never do anything wrong to you."

"Then who was it? Who was the phone conversation about?" I exclaimed. "This whole thing has been eating me up!"

Zack, who looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh, took a deep breath. "I can't tell you."

"Ugh!" I threw myself on the swing. "I hate you."

He chuckled as he kissed my forehead. "You've hated me ever since we first encountered. You never hated me, Jenny. You just covered up your feelings."

"Don't try to change the subject."

He sighed. "I'll tell you tomorrow when I take you out," he sat down beside me on the swing. "Tomorrow's the last full day I'm here so I want to be with you as much as possible."

I rested my head on his shoulder. "Just tell me now," I pleaded quietly. "I don't want any more surprises."

Zack draped his arm around my waist. "Fine, I surrender," I lifted my head up to look at him. "I'll tell you who it is. Just don't hate me when I tell you."

"Is it about a girl at the party?" I asked eagerly, cutting him off without realizing it.

He grinned. "No, it's not a girl."

I gave him a puzzled look. "What? I heard you say 'she' and 'her' a lot when you were talking on the phone," I pulled away from him. "You couldn't be talking about a dude," Zack's silence and very sly smile made me nervous about this whole thing. "You weren't talking about a dude right?" I waited for Zack to give me an answer, but he wouldn't speak up. "It was a guy?" I was baffled. "Are you gay?"

Zack's eyebrows furrowed. "No!" he hollered. "I'm not! What…what made you think that?"

I stood up from the swing. "I heard you say 'she was only a one night hit for only last night' and 'just adding a punch to the crazy night.' It makes me think that if you were talking about a guy…" I trailed off. "Was this before or after the…"

"No!" Zack interjected. "I didn't hook up with a guy! I think my choice of words will give a little hint on who I'm talking about on the phone. 'One night hit,' 'adding a punch,' I used those words by its literal meaning." By those words, I knew who he was talking about. That could explain the additional bruising and the increase of pissy-ness he had with me earlier.

Everything made sense now, oddly enough.

**Ugh, I feel like crap! That's why I haven't been doing my whole consistant updating on this story. Anyways, ****I pretty much told you indirectly who the mystery person was. If everything goes as plan, there will be only three chapters left plus an epilogue. I don't guarantee it, but that's the plan. Keep reading as always and thank you guys for reviewing!**


	22. Chapter 22

"So, you were referring Jean-Paul as a girl?" I was still baffled about the whole reveal. This swirl of drama I began was all because of the neon-wearing monster. I couldn't believe it. I pretty much dumped Zack all because of Jean-Paul. I felt so bad.

Zack nodded. "He's a sissy girl who's all talk. He wanted another fight with me after that whole incident at the party. Alex overheard them talking about it this morning and that was why he called me," he explained. "Of course when he confronted me, it was when you left me," I gazed up at him. "I was so upset about you leaving. When Jean-Paul tried to charge me, I almost killed the guy because I was so angry. The guys held me back and he ran off like a pansy to his hotel room," he laughed quietly. "I can't believe all of this happened because of him. He's the root to our problems."

"No wonder he had so many bruises on him," Zack shot a look at me.

"You saw him today?"

"I saw him at the mall. He saw me, but John was there," I remembered what he told me when we were in the store. "He didn't really help, either."

Zack's eyes narrowed. "What did he do?" he asked with an edge on his voice.

I didn't want to fuel up another drama. That was the last thing I needed right now. "He was defending Jean-Paul," I lied. "That's all."

"Why would he do that? He knows that Jean-Paul is bad news," he paused. "Are you sure you're telling me the truth?"

Ugh, I hated those moments when I was so stuck on whether or not to tell him what really happened. "I don't want any more drama," I held his hand. "Can we move on from this?"

Zack sighed and nodded. "Fine, I'll let this go for now," he kissed my cheek. "Just make sure _that_ John stays away from you."

"I'm pretty sure he will."

Zack smiled before pulling me into a hug. It was a long embrace and he didn't want to let go. I buried my face in his chest, grinning because everything was going into place. All of the drama was dying down for once and now Zack and I could be together in peace…wow. I never thought I would say that, but I was happy to be with him. The hatred that fueled in me in the previous days towards him settled into admiration. He was determined to be with me and now we were officially together.

Xxx

Zack kissed me before leaving the house. He just had dinner with my parents and they enjoyed having him around. The discussions at the dinner table revolved around fishing, surfing, boating…pretty much anything water associated. Mom and I stayed out in the conversations and exchanged looks of happiness. I wouldn't be surprised if they considered Zack to be my future husband. I was too young for that, though. I wanted to enjoy life as a young adult and be with my family, friends, and Zack.

I said goodnight to my parents before heading upstairs to get ready for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day since Zack was going to try to jam-pack many activities for us to do as possible before he left for Baltimore on Wednesday. My heart stopped when I thought about it. He was going to leave the day after tomorrow. I hated that when everything was going into place, another bad thought planted in my mind. I was never in a long-distance relationship before and like I said before, most of the time it never last. Man, I sure knew how to bring my spirits down.

After I cleaned up and wore my pajamas, I lay down on my bed, looking at the blank ceiling within the darkness. I couldn't sleep when I was thinking too much about something. It made me stay up late. When sleep finally drifted to me, I closed my eyes.

Of course, when I actually fell asleep, something banged on my window. What the hell banged in my window at 11 o'clock at night?

I rubbed my eyes in anger and got up from the bed. As usual, I ran into everything before reaching the window. As I looked out, my eyes shot open. I opened the window and stuck my head out. "What the hell are you guys doing?" I snapped under my breath.

Two stories below, Alex, Jack, Rian, and Zack placed the ladder against my window. Alex, Jack, and Rian held on to the ladder while Zack proceeded to climb it. I never knew what was going on in that man's head. He grinned as he climbed up. Luckily, he made it and climbed over the window and into my room. The guys cheered from below and told Zack to "do his job." I rolled my eyes while they winked at me. I closed the window and turned to Zack.

"Why are you crazy?"

"I'm crazy about you," he draped his arms around me and began rocking me back and forth.

"That's so cliché," I noted. "The whole ladder thing and what you said."

He shrugged and laughed. "I surprised you, didn't I?"

"Yup." The wooden floor squeaked as we moved. I stopped him. "Maybe we should go lay down on the bed. These floors are so old." Zack nodded as he took off his shoes and his coat. He placed them under my bed. He lay down beside me as he pulled the covers up.

Without saying a word, we both drifted off into sleep in each other's arms.

**Hope you like the update :)**


	23. Chapter 23

The morning sun blinded me as I struggled to get up from bed. My head felt heavy as I recollected my dream last night. Zack climbed up the ladder to my bedroom window and telling me he was crazy about me and slept beside me that night. I felt so secure when he wrapped his arms around me and his head rested against mine. Then all of these thoughts came through me like a tidal wave. He was leaving tomorrow. I remembered crying in my sleep because I knew that this happiness would eventually end. The tears streamed down my cheek onto Zack's arm. He woke up and saw my puffy eyes, reddening from bawling too much. He asked me what was wrong. I recollected shaking my head, telling him everything was fine. Zack knew I was lying and he sensed why I was crying.

We both got up from bed as the night stood still. Zack comforted me, telling me he wouldn't abandon me. How could I believe him? What were the chances of us ever seeing each other again? He was always going to be on tour while I would be at college. We were two completely different people and I told him that. I denied the fact that he was still going to be with me after he left. He insisted that he would still be with me, but I kept on denying. I kept lying to myself that he wouldn't do that. After a while, Zack gave up and said that we were going to talk about it in the morning. I sighed as I lay back down on the bed, my back facing him. The last thought that came to my head before my dream ended was whether or not the relationship was even worth continuing.

I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was only nine in the morning. My parents were out to work so that meant I was the only person in the house. I walked to the bathroom and turned the knob. My eyes widened. It was lock. I leaned my ear against the door. The shower was turned on. Maybe my dream wasn't a dream after all. Shit. That meant the whole disagreement with Zack was real.

I sat back down on the bed and sighed in disappointment as I stared at the ground. Today was going to be our date and I ruined the mood for the both of us. I hated myself for doing that. I heard the bathroom door open and felt Zack's footsteps walking towards me. I didn't want to look up. I felt guilty that I did that to him.

Zack kneeled down and lifted my chin up with his fingertips. My eyes gazed deeply at him as I stroked his cheek with my right hand. Tears began welling up in my eyes again.

"I'm sorry," I choked out.

Zack pulled me into a hug and rubbed my back. I started crying on his shoulders. He glanced at me and wiped my tears away. "I love you, you know that right?"

I nodded as more tears began to stream down my face.

"We are going to be together, even if you're thousand miles away from me. I will do whatever it takes to have you beside me," Zack insisted.

I nodded once more as I looked up at him. He was confident that we could make this work.

Zack smiled as he got up. "You better get ready because we are going out on our first official date."

I cocked my head in confusion. "This is our _first _date? I thought our first date was when we were…" I trailed off. "Oh, never mind." The date I thought about was the one that we went to Downtown Seattle. I hated him during that time so I guess it really wasn't a date. I was forced into it. I remembered that was the time when he stripped off his clothes. I smiled at that memory.

Zack glanced at me. "What are you smiling about?"

I shook my head. "I just remember the time when we went to Downtown and you stripped off your clothes in public," I let out a small laugh. "I was so pissed at you."

He chuckled. "Oh yeah. You pushed me into the store and started cussing me off when I proceeded to take off my pants."

I laughed. "I can't believe we went through so much in such a short period of time. Three days to be exact," I stood up and wiped off the leftover tears from my face. "It all started with a kiss I never wanted…at first."

"A kiss that saved me from being molested by underage groupies and got me a fine lady," Zack beamed.

_And got me someone to give my heart to._ I thought to myself.

**So...if I told you guys this was the last chapter, would you be pissed off or be satisfied? I'm contemplating on whether or not this should be the last chapter and then the epilogue. Help me decide please! Date or no date?**


	24. The End

It was an ordinary day in January, a few days after New Year's Day. Many people were on the streets, carrying unwanted Christmas presents in hand so they could return them. As for me, I held the camera Zack gave me before he left on Christmas Eve, taking snapshots of the city. Zack was far from me now. I haven't seen him since Christmas Eve, but we have been contacting each other through phone calls, emails, etc. We were just friends though. It was hard to love someone if I only knew them for a couple of days. When we went out on our "first date," I began to realize that we were moving pretty fast on the relationship. I remembered Zack telling me how much he loved me and it was hard to believe him. We only knew each other for a couple of days. Towards the end of that date, I confronted him, telling him how I felt about the whole relationship. When I told him my reasons, he agreed with me. It was that night we did our final kiss before stating that we were only friends. We needed to take it slow and then take it to the next level if the sparks continued between us.

Before he left on Christmas Eve, Zack gave me the camera I always wanted, the Nikon D3S. I was sort of embarrassed to give him a hoodie for his present, but he kept on reassuring me that he loved it. I remembered giving final goodbyes to everyone, Zack being the last one I had to say goodbye to. It was hard to say goodbye because we became close, even if we weren't an actual couple. I told him that we both needed some time to think about where our relationship was going. I told him that if the feelings that we felt during the after party and the nights before still lingered after a long period of time, then there was something between us. Zack nodded to what I was saying and then pulled out the mistletoe that I took down a while back from his jean pocket. He explained that he would give that back to me if he knew that we needed to be together. He would actually fly back to Seattle to give that mistletoe to me. It was weird that I hoped he would come back here in Seattle.

I turned around the corner. The street was familiar to me. This was where Zack and I first met, when he randomly pulled me and kissed me to hide away from his fans. Was it weird for me to hope that it would happen again? That he would randomly come out of nowhere and…

My eyes widened. Were they fooling me? Was I creating some kind of illusion? Zack stood in front of me. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing this all correctly. I looked up again. He was still there, smiling at me. I walked up to him.

"Zack?" I called out. He ran over to me and embraced me in his arms. No words were needed to explain how I felt. He pulled away from me, gazing at me.

"Did you miss me?" he asked as he kissed my cheek.

"How did you know…?"

"Lily told me that you always came here every time you come to Downtown Seattle. Since she was the one who dropped you off, she told me that there was a very high chance you would come around here."

"No wonder she keeps asking me when I'll go here," I mentioned. "I knew she had something up her sleeves."

He glanced at the camera and hanged from my neck. "I see that you like the camera."

I nodded. "I love it," I glanced up at him. "Why are you here? I mean, I don't mind you being here, but why are you here?"

Zack pulled out the mistletoe from his pocket. "I'm giving this back to you."

I looked at the mistletoe, then him. "Are you saying that…we are…," I was waiting for him to finish what I was saying. Instead, he grinned, waiting for me to finish what I was saying. "That we are…together?"

Zack didn't answer. He leaned in and kissed me softly on my lips. He pulled away and looked at me.

"Yes, we are together," he smiled.

"Good," I smiled back.

The sparks between us never died down after all.

**Yes...this story has come to a close. I want to thank every single person who read, followed, and/or commented on this story. You guys are the best! Much love to all of you!**

**-Jade**


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